Nine A.M. and the corridors in Lackagh primary school hum with the good-natured giddiness every Friday brings. A thousand things to take care of and Mattie Murphy, school principal and Galway hurling manager, finds himself walking to the phone and making himself available for words, doing his honest best to consider the thrust of the same old questions. Only the voices change.

The onset of lingering May evenings is traditionally a time of both hope and disquiet for Galway hurling folk. So often the senior team have coasted prettily through the league without really unravelling the mysteries of their championship pedigree. Over recent summers it seemed their teams were crushed as much by the sheer weight of expectation as by opposing teams.

Yet here they are brimming with silken promise and up against Kilkenny in the semi-final of the league.

"When we started out we wanted to be in the play-off stages of the league and the fact that we have managed to do that and remain unbeaten has been something of a bonus.

That said, I would contend that we were possibly in the less competitive section of the league, so our hope is that against Kilkenny and in the final, should we make it, we will get a measure of our progression," says Murphy.

He is unequivocal in his belief of the worth of the winter competition and is sceptical about those who would profess that it means nothing to them.

"My view is that it is one of two national competitions and one which affords you at least six games, unlike the championship. Yes, every team's goal is to win an All-Ireland; why else would one put in such hours and effort? But if a team declares disinterest in the league and goes out and gets beaten by 12 or 14 points, doesn't that surely sow some seeds of doubt, the fact that they have experienced that kind of beating.

"Very few teams can afford to be so uncaring about the competition. It's only those who are have absolutely certain of their championship line-up that don't need the games now."

When Murphy returned for another stint at one of the trickiest managerial posts in the country, the life force for Galway hurling was perceived to be riddled with disillusionment and starved of morale. The scent of winning, even on soggy February pitches, has done much to erase that.

"We were told when we came back that that was the case, that things were meant to be at a low ebb. But there is a good buzz in the squad right now. And the last thing we were worried about was what the mood on the ground was like. There will always be detractors and critics and responding to them only gives them credence. I don't want to seem paranoid, but there always seems to be a lot of negativity about Galway hurling more so than with other counties.

"I mean, Cork, one of the finest powers in the game since the establishment of the GAA haven't been in an All-Ireland since 1990. They have been going through a sticky patch and Jimmy Barry (Murphy) has had four years to develop a new team without talk of any crisis."

And undeniably the early part of every summer is filled with wondrous talk about Galway's inability to progress from underage sides into consistent senior outfits, as if they were wilfully denying us the sight of their true ability.

"I think that argument has been over exaggerated," states Murphy. "I mean, we are still a young team. Cathal Moore is the senior citizen in the forwards at the age of 23. Brian Feeney is practically the veteran and he captained an under-21 team in 1990.

"Look, we may not win the All-Ireland this year but we are making good progress and are laying the foundations of a team capable of challenging for that."

Galway's every move is heavily scrutinised and disruptions which might be shrugged off for other counties are often portrayed as ominous portents. Thus the departure of Joe Rabbitte made for splashy headlines.

"Joe is not part on the panel, he decided to leave prior to the Clare game and I have not spoken to Joe since then," offers Murphy.

"We would like to think the panel is open to all players but there has to be ground rules, you can't compromise things. There were a number of inaccuracies circulated about this matter, to be honest."

So will Rabbitte be watching from the terraces this summer? "I wouldn't want to say that. If things are addressed, we can go from there. Joe Rabbitte is a hurler who has been up with the best in the country over the last nine or 10 years. We wouldn't cut our throats by ruling out a player of such calibre."

Fortright to the last, Murphy says good luck and presses on, treading with certainty.