In assessing the chances of the side that defeated his own team, Derry hurling manager Kevin McNaughton doesn't pull his punches. "I think Galway could have done with a tougher game in the quarter-final," he says. Galway pulled away to win by 21 points and if their credentials could hardly be judged against that backdrop, some observers noticed a greater sharpness in the forwards, particularly Kevin Broderick.

"Their forwards will score," says McNaughton, "but they won't get the supply they got against us. We lost midfield, didn't even break 40-60 there or win any breaking ball. Kilkenny also have very tough defenders and guys like Kevin Broderick won't get the same running time.

"Kilkenny have a solid defence and won't concede much. I thought Emmet McKeever did all right on Cloonan in the circumstances. Cloonan got a big score but he'll have to do with a fraction of that ball against Kilkenny."

At the other end of the field, McNaughton wasn't too impressed with Galway's inner line of defence. From limited opportunities he believes his team did well enough, although only Geoffrey McGonigle was playing in any way well.

"I think Galway will struggle in the full back line. We'd only one player performing up there and he got a penalty and set up a few points. It'll be a lot different with the likes of DJ Carey flying around."

With two easy wins in Leinster behind them, Kilkenny haven't been fully tested in the championship for two years. A year ago at this stage Galway gave them a competitive tussle for the first 35 minutes before falling away in the second half. McNaughton doesn't think that holds any relevance for this weekend and is impressed by the way Kilkenny, despite everything, have held their focus.

"Galway are a good team with good players but it's hard to break that losing habit in semi-finals. Kilkenny are a great team, have some big strong men and all can hurl. No other county could have coped with the loss of John Power the way they did. If Wexford had taken the goal chance and taken their point they could have pushed it closer but Kilkenny had enough in the tank. They're going to be very hard to beat.

"They've still got that hunger. They're not complacent, there's still a real motivation there."