It is unfortunate for Leinster hurling that its summer showpiece should fall just a week after the spectacle that was Thurles last Sunday. There have been complaints of late that the Leinster final has taken on a jaded look, that it no longer carries a resonance befitting one of the banner calendar dates of the summer.

And the return of the teams who contested the previous two finals hasn't helped quell such arguments. Kilkenny and Offaly. Offaly and Kilkenny. Anyone surprised?

It seems unfair to put such arguments to Kilkenny manager Brian Cody. What, in all reality, is he supposed to do: have his team eliminated in the first round in the interests of novelty? Kilkenny are, like every other county, in the business of winning and on Sunday they seek their third consecutive provincial title.

"Leinster is not as competitive as Munster right now and it would be foolish to argue otherwise. There is an unknown quality about Munster which doesn't apply here. Realistically, there were three teams competing for the title in Leinster this year.

"Now, Wexford have been knocked out, but I don't see any reason why they can't return next year. People have said that recent finals here haven't been great and while the match two years ago was a little flat, I felt there was some great hurling last summer."

Cody just laughs when asked about Offaly and whether he would be surprised to see them mount another coup similar to that which stunned the country in 1998.

"I don't think anyone can afford to be surprised with anything these lads do. Terrific hurlers. Everyone seems to be expecting them to disappear every year, but why should they? This particular team have established themselves as a great team and every year the Whelehans and Dooleys, John Troy, those same lads come out and prove themselves.

"And they always manage to bring along two or three new lads to keep it fresh. Colm Cassidy and Gary Hannify are really coming through now. There is a lot left in that team."

His assessment is beyond debate; Offaly have the silverware to back their reputation. But what of Cody's own team? This Kilkenny side is problematic when it comes to categorisation, something the manager readily admits.

They are unproven in a sense, having made it to the last two All-Ireland finals only to be flushed out by Offaly and Cork. But against that, they have hurled at an extraordinarily high level of consistency and are, once more, reckoned to feature heavily in the picture.

"Well, that's correct, this team have put in an astonishing effort. You know, the experts now seem to suggest that winning three All-Irelands is a thing of the past. Now, we lost two, but the work we put in to reach that point was no more than would have been the case had we won both finals. So we are attempting to achieve something exceptionally difficult in reaching a third All-Ireland final. Do we have it in us? I don't know, I believe Sunday will answer that to a significant degree."

To see Cody in post-match situations, whether in victory or defeat, is to witness one of the great gentlemen. He comes across as one of those people who wouldn't have a notion how to appear undignified.

Kilkenny's hurling heritage is, of course, steeped in tales of winning and to guide a team to a second consecutive runner-up spot was tough for Cody to bear. So perhaps this league past and the current championship is as much about avoiding a third big-day loss than adding another year to Kilkenny's storied scroll.

It would be understandable if Cody found himself working without the sense of enjoyment that underlined his stewardship last summer.

"Did I seem as if I enjoyed last summer?" he gasps. "No, I mean, the thing is you enter this competition realising that every county is seeking the one prize. Only one manager will attain that, so the rest won't be getting suicidal about the situation. It's the nature of the thing.

"Losing was, of course, tremendously disappointing and it brings its own criticisms. But the truth is, I do still enjoy it. People will talk about the pressure of Sunday and I suppose it does exist to a degree, but I also love the whole day, the occasion."

The last two years Kilkenny marched through Leinster only to fall short in September. Perhaps this year they might benefit from a bit of scenery; maybe they could use the extra quarter-final game.

"Well," says Cody, "that is impossible to say. All I know is that it is against the spirit of any decent sportsman to consider the benefits of losing. We go out to win everything we play, we have to, it's what we are about. That's how it will be on Sunday."

Twice the bridesmaid . . . Kilkenny's Peter Barry is consoled after last year's All-Ireland defeat to Cork. - (Photograph: Dara Mac Donaill).

Cody's code . . . "We go out to win everything we play. That's how it will be on Sunday."