ALL-IRELAND SFC SEMI-FINALS Gavin Cummiskeyhears from Tyrone manager Mickey Harte about the dangers of taking a lead from the bookies and writing off Wexford

IT REMAINS easy to dismiss the credentials of Wexford's footballers with Sunday's All-Ireland semi-final fast approaching. The good folk in the bookmakers have made them three-to-one outsiders, but that price may bring a wry smile to the lips of Mickey Harte.

The Tyrone manager must have made some reference to those same odds coming into the Dublin game. For much of that match spectators, including most "experts", waited for a brave Dublin revival.

That the favourites went under so tamely was bound to set off a wave of criticism, but it was the rebirth of so many supposed has-beens that confirmed a simple analysis: Tyrone were and still are a superior force.

All they have to do now is reinforce the point.

It has been the most bizarre of footballing summers, teams from every province rubbishing the preconceptions of bookies and pundits. Maybe the dull weather is to blame. Or maybe a hex has been cast on the 2008 championship.

The tremors began in Ulster when Fermanagh downed Monaghan and Derry, two teams primed to end Armagh's reign. Down flickered briefly with their epic, extra-time dismissal of Tyrone in a replay before being extinguished by Armagh.

In Leinster, Wicklow beat Kildare, only for Kieran McGeeney's Lilywhites to recover and make the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

And then we had Meath. After reaching last year's semi-finals, they had many believing the talent in the county would be harnessed to bringing genuine competition to Dublin's Leinster monopoly.

They were beaten by Wexford in a bizarre second-half reversal before heading to Limerick to be obliterated by a 19-year-old sniper named Ian Ryan. Limerick also should have beaten Cork.

The Connacht championship was less eventful but at least Galway raised their heads high enough to force a magnificent riposte from Kerry this month.

"It has been unpredictable alright but that ensures a degree of intrigue especially when the pundits and bookies, who so rarely get it wrong, are getting it wrong," said Harte yesterday. "Yes, it has been a strange season but there is still life in it yet."

All this randomness will be shelved on Sunday if Kerry and Tyrone set up a repeat of the 2005 All-Ireland final.

Perhaps the strangest result of the season (thus far) was the Leinster final. Dublin refused to relent when crushing Jason Ryan's Wexford 3-23 to 0-9, only to be humiliated themselves the next day out by Tyrone. A 35-point swing is the common denominator between these sides.

Harte knows Tyrone are widely expected to comfortably progress on Sunday but he also knows it is not that simple.

"The most impressive thing about Wexford was how they bounced back from that heavy defeat to Dublin," he said.

"It showed a maturity in their side that they were able to move on. Such a defeat would put most teams back 12, even 18 months, in their progression.

"But to come back and beat Down, then Armagh - it shows they have the ability to cope with a bad defeat, positively and quickly.

"To beat Armagh, a team who have won seven of the last 10 Ulster titles and are not just novice Ulster champions was a real achievement.

"With 10 to 12 minutes to go it looked like Armagh would close it out. They had just gone 11-nine up and all the signs were there for a comfortable victory."

We can't help returning to the most overworked topic in relation to Wexford football: Matty Forde.

The Kilanerin man looked to be operating on one leg against Down and Armagh. And then there was Francie Bellew crashing into him at every opportunity. Forde swallowed his hamstring pains and buried Armagh with a goal that will long be remembered in Wexford. He finished with 1-12 over the two games. It was awesome viewing but Forde remains short of his best form.

"True, you must watch Matty Forde at all times but then there is Redmond Barry, PJ Banville and Ciarán Lyng," said Harte. "That's four quality, scoring forwards just off the top of the head.

"It is not the Matty Forde show anymore but you can watch him and contain him for 60 minutes and he will still get you late on."

He got Francie Bellew and that is a rarity.

The other common denominator between Wexford and Tyrone this season has been Down. Two very different-looking Down sides, mind. Same personnel, just exuding a wildly contrasting mentality. Against Tyrone in Omagh and then in the replay in Newry, Down performed with a fervour that deserved more than what their summer eventually yielded.

They stood toe to toe with what many deemed, in the immediate aftermath, was a shadow of a once great Tyrone team.

Against Wexford, just three weeks later, Down folded miserably when the ante was raised, perhaps drained by the failed exertions of the Ulster minefield.

"It was different for us against Down as we lost by a single point," continued Harte. "We had five weeks to recover and I suppose it was like progressive rehabilitation as we went through the qualifiers. We found ourselves in manageable games."

Louth, Westmeath, Mayo brought them back into the light before the cathartic experience of silencing a Croke Park packed full of expectant Dubs.

It would be crazy to bet against Tyrone, wouldn't it?

Perhaps it would be crazy to bet at all.