Seán Morantalks to 19-year-old Séamus Hickey, whose standard of marking, tackling and sweeping is remarkable for so young a player

You never know. Séamus Hickey plays in the left corner just behind veteran wing back Mark Foley, the only survivor from the county's last All-Ireland final in 1996, when Foley was a stand-out Young Hurler of the Year.

For all that he might have imagined future Septembers in Croke Park it's only now at the age of 32 that he's back.

Hickey is at the other end of the cycle. Leading contender for Young Hurler of the Year, he's in an All-Ireland final at the age of 19 after just one full season of senior hurling. Despite his youth, he's already had a frantic couple of years.

Foley aside, he's the only member of the team to have played on All-Ireland final day in Croke Park, having been on the Limerick minor team that lost to Galway two years ago. Sunday isn't even his first senior national final against Kilkenny.

That was last year when just before his Leaving Certificate, and the day before playing in the All-Ireland Colleges final for St Flannan's, he came on as a replacement - coincidentally for Foley - in the NHL final in Thurles. He sees his days with the famous Ennis hurling nursery as integral to his bewilderingly quick evolution into a top-class inter-county defender.

"It was key to my development as a player. I went in, in first year and hurled morning, noon and night every day of the week. I did very little else! We'd great coaches and excellent people to take care of teams and guide them in the right direction. There was a winning mindset in Flannan's and I think that's what attracted me and drove me forward."

The biggest influence on his game was former Hurler of the Year and twice Clare All-Ireland winner James O'Connor, a teacher in the school. "Without a doubt," he says emphatically. "We won an All-Ireland and Harty with him in 2005 and reached them both the following year. He did great work and deserves great credit. I won an under-15 Dean Ryan (Munster schools) with him. He really, really knew how to coach kids. It's not enough to know the game but how to communicate it. He could do that."

His match-up list for the championship is impressive from Tipperary's Eoin Kelly up to John Mullane in the All-Ireland semi-final. The standard of marking, tackling and sweeping he has attained is remarkable for so young a player. Collectively the defence has performed well and in the semi-final restricted the highly regarded Waterford attack to their lowest score of the championship.

"The danger factor, when ball comes into forwards like that, is always there," says Hickey. "I think we've really grown as a unit in the past year. It's a bond you get over time and we've had a full year and a half to work on it. It's actually getting easier."

His rate of progress suggests that long-term prospects are more likely to be in one of the central positions - Brian Corcoran and Diarmuid O'Sullivan are two other examples of teenage corner backs - and he says that it took six or seven months to adjust to the required mentality of the position.´ "If I'd a pick I wouldn't be corner back. But this is a senior hurling team and you value your jersey."

Although too young to have suffered the almost endless demoralisation of the county team for most of the decade, he was present last year for one of the most traumatic seasons. It was, however, a starting point.

"Personally I feel the inferiority complex was born out of a lack of confidence," he says.

"We had to set about putting it right in the championship. We believed but it's no use believing unless you can put it into practice.

" It's only this year we've set about doing what the team believed it could do for the past six years."

Séamus Hickey

Age: 19

Height: 6ft

Weight: 13st

Club: Murroe-Boher

Honours: Harty Cup 2005, 2006, All-Ireland Colleges 2005, Higher Education League 2006-2007.