Nervous occasion as neighbours finally meet

This evening in Kilkenny, the sterility of the traditional competitive structures will be laid bare.

The meeting of Wexford and Waterford in the final Guinness All-Ireland hurling qualifier is the first meeting of the counties in 116 years of championship hurling, despite the small pool of elite hurling counties and the fact the counties border each other.

Panic, evident earlier in the week, has subsided and there are a few tickets still available. A full house (31,000) is expected but there won't be the legions of disappointed fans originally feared. Both counties have good levels of support and the proximity of Kilkenny should mean a record attendance at a hurling qualifier.

Equally both sets of supporters have been sorely tried in recent weeks with poor displays in their respective provincial finals. How they respond may of course determine the winners but on paper Waterford look too strong and, more critically, too strong in areas where Wexford are weak.

For all the heroic defending done against Kilkenny in the first half of the Leinster final, Wexford were still vulnerable to pace and Eddie Brennan's fleet-footed exposure of Colm Kehoe leads to the latter being dropped for the first time in eight years. The surprising aspect here is the call-up of Dave Guiney, who hasn't played championship hurling for nearly as long and doesn't appear to add speed at the back.

This could be a critical area because both Paul Flynn and John Mullane, the likely Waterford corner forwards, are fast as lightning and each has managed a hat-trick of goals in one of his games this season. For added variety the recall of Dan Shanahan will put pressure on Wexford under the puck-outs.

Wexford's other weakness against Kilkenny was the inability to win high ball in the forwards. This meant that for every Herculean tackle, block and clearance the ball seemed to be back in on top of them almost immediately. Larry O'Gorman has been introduced to provide a physical focus, presumably up front, but although he did a great job against Tipperary two years ago he was unable to reproduce it last year against Kilkenny.

Waterford have their own problems. Some of their big performers from last year have struggled this year. There is still fervent hope that Ken McGrath can rediscover his best form. Against Cork he at least showed his ability in the air and won a lot of possession, even if his finishing was unrecognisable for such a gifted striker of the ball.

He's not alone. Wexford captain Paul Codd endured his own nightmare in the Leinster final and is also under pressure to get back on track.

Wexford introduce a couple of the forwards, Chris McGrath and Michael Jacob, who did well as replacements the last day. The problem remains that the county just doesn't have the type of big, ball-winning forwards most counties consider indispensable.

Wexford will probably rise to the occasion and ask questions of their opponents. But Waterford are likely to know the answers.