WITH the football and hurling championships turning into a bookies' wonderland, the last of September's finalists will be known after tomorrow's Bank of Ireland All Ireland football championship semi final, between Meath and Tyrone, at Croke Park.

Despite being narrowly beaten finalists last year, Tyrone didn't feature at all in popular projections for this championship until the whistle sounded at the end of the firm beating they handed Derry at the end of June from then on, they were top of most people's list.

The danger with making too many assumptions about the progress of the championship was illustrated in last week's semifinal but Mayo and Kerry were two new teams with neither having the right to decisive preference over the other.

Tomorrow is different. It's 20 years since Ulster champions retained their title so there's something of an irony in Tyrone being the only one of the All Ireland semi finalists to have been around last year but it's a fair advantage on its own.

Add to it the motivation the team appears to have squeezed from the disappointing defeat in the All Ireland 11 months ago and the nature of Meath's challenge looks daunting before a ball is kicked.

Given this consideration and the fact that Tyrone have improved this year, the best way of judging the match is by reference tot hose areas Meath might actually have - or contrive - an advantage. It's not an extensive list but Sean Boylan and his selectors will have it well perused.

For a start, some of the decrease in Tyrone's dependence on Peter Canavan has been brought about by the revamped half forward line when it has been going well. Against Derry, Brian Dooher's pace on the ball, Ger Cavlan's ability to mix penetration with playmaking and Adrian Cush's rehabilitation made it a very potent line.

In the Ulster final, however, there was a worrying lack of industry. Dooher backed up for the first quarter and then faded, Cavlan was by turns subdued and then substituted and Cush ended up playing nearer the inside line.

Meath were steady in the half backs during the Leinster final, albeit not under the most intense pressure. Colm Coyle is playing very well at present and if doubts hover over Enda McManus as a centre back, Coyle can cover. The problem here is that Coyle may conceivably be needed elsewhere.

Secondly, although Peter Canavan isn't carrying the whole enterprise as exclusively as last year, he is still playing exceptionally well and still the main source of menace in Tyrone's attack. If he can be shackled - as he was to an extent against Down or starved of possession as in last year's All Ireland, his team's effort has to suffer.

Darren Fay had a good afternoon on Jason Sherlock in the Leinster final. Even if Sherlock's supply was dreadful, he still failed to shake his marker when going out to those low deliveries that came his way. Sherlock, of course, isn't Canavan.

Among the many problems with the eternal hope that Canavan will somehow have a bad day is that even when he does, it's by his own standards, as against Down when he still scored 1-1. Meath do have an option here of bringing Coyle back from the wing for one of those specialist marking jobs.

Thirdly there will be the hope that John McDermott and Jimmy McGuinness can nail down an advantage at midfield over Tyrone's unconventional pairing of Jody Gormley and Pascal Canavan. Having survived the physical pressure of the Derry and Down midfields, however, Tyrone won't be too intimidated by Meath's.

It's very hard to cope with Pascal Canavan. He slots into the team's possession game and is snappy on the breaking ball. In possession he uses the ball intelligently and without it, he can lead his marker, in the words of one opposing manager, "into space no midfielder wants to go".

Lastly and most encouragingly for Meath, there is their own half forward line. A specially constructed line whether to root the attack more firmly or specifically to counter the Dublin halfbacks depends on who you talk to it has been prominent in the matches to date.

Its attacking effectiveness is sometimes dispersed in that the excellent Trevor Giles is playing very deep, Tommy Dowd is likely to move inside at some stage and Graham Geraghty has been inconsistent man of the match against Laois and disappointing against Dublin but at full tilt, it will test Tyrone's half backs.

The Ulster champions' defence has displayed a greatly enhanced understanding this season. They work well together, know where each other are and work the ball out of defence quickly and cleverly. In the match against Down, the full backs were the foundation stone of the team effort. When Tyrone came under pressure, the full back line came to their rescue - reading the ball well and handling with assurance in bad conditions.

Up front, the main improvement in the eyes of most observers has been the startling, development of Ciaran McBride's play. Last year was his first championship season and he joined it late but made a reasonable impression.

This time around, his talents are at full throttle. Big enough to pose physical problems for Martin O'Connell, he can also turn, take men on or lay off ball. His presence in the corner takes a fair bit of heat off Peter Canavan and stretches the defence beyond the usual limits of merely fencing in Canavan.

Another plus for Tyrone is that their bench is a lot stronger than Meath's. Fergal Logan can be called upon to lend physique and heft to the middle whereas Stephen Lawn who has excelled on his introduction to the last two matches, is ready to come on at, the first sign of trouble.

Meath's attack saw a good deal of possession in the Leinster final but blazed away to an eventual total of 16 wides. Often nervousness as much as impressive defending was at the heart of this unhappy statistic.

Whereas what have been termed their "hereditary qualities" should ensure that they don't go down easily, Meath look too inexperienced in the face of formidable, highly motivated opposition.