An entirely new hurling season has unravelled since Kilkenny were last on view. Their steamrolling of Wexford in the Leinster final way back on July 9th has been subject to substantial revisionist tracts since the losers' stunning rebirth.

When Kilkenny returned home with their provincial silverware, the hurling championship was all but written off as a flatly predictable entity. The All-Ireland champions have been busy with training over the past month and looked on as Wexford breathed new momentum into the competition.

Now, Kilkenny are finally back in the arena on a weekend devoted solely to hurling and with the public appetite restored also. It will be a far cry from the tame Leinster showpiece. And sumptuous as the standard bearers have looked so far, there must be a slight anxiety about re-entering a tempo-charged championship after a slumbering lay-off.

"It is a long lay-off and it is too long, obviously, but that's the reality of it and we are not going to start whinging or complaining now," says Kilkenny manager Brian Cody.

"To be fair, Galway don't have a provincial championship and they had a quarter-final against Derry that was not that taxing so we can't claim they have any advantage on that front. The stakes are even really."

The champions played Galway over a month ago in a challenge game and have spent the subsequent weeks playing pick-up matches against the best club players in the county and also just fine-tuning. The one advantage of the lay-off is it allowed a number of long-term injuries to clear up.

"We have had a bad year, really, with injuries but at long last it seems to be turning and we are likely to have a full panel available to us."

Since Cody assumed control in the autumn of 1998, he has been adamant his squad do not dwell on the past. Hence, that year's All-Ireland loss to Offaly and defeat in the 1999 All-Ireland final by Cork were analysed and boxed and referred to no more. Now that Kilkenny are champions and regarded by some as an all but untouchable hurling force, Cody is determined to maintain the same policy. It is not a question of being blinkered but of discouraging anyone from resting on their laurels.

"We are just working away," he insists. "There is nothing different to our approach this year from last year. You have to stay in the real world. Last year's All-Ireland was won, and that's grand, but it is no good to us now.

"The lads are active sportspeople who just want to go out and win what is going on at the time and everything before goes out the window. Same as the previous year when we had lost and fellas were wondering how in the name of God was this team ever going to win anything. You keep your head down and work."

One of Cody's great strengths is he has always been able to communicate his genuine respect for opposition teams. Meticulous and considered, his views are deliberate and weighty. Sunday is a game filled with potential traps for the champions. Galway, as ever, comes to the city in a shroud.

"It is a huge game for us. Galway are the team probably with the most potential in the country and have been for quite a while. At the same time, they haven't won anything in quite a while. But whether this year or not, it is going to happen; they will come to Croke Park and just start wiping teams out of it, as they have done in the past.

"And when it happens again, all of us will look back and say it was no surprise. They have been threatening for so long that it just will happen. That day might be next Sunday - we are hoping the hell that it is not - but if they hit a day like that, with the talent they have, they will be very difficult to stop."

Although Kilkenny's vaunted forward line has been the talk of the summer, Cody has seen enough of Galway's interminable line of nippy fliers and born poachers to be wary.

"Ah yeah, their pace is just phenomenal. Like, Kevin Broderick wasn't really playing last year and he is in there again now and is chained lightning, obviously adding another dimension to the overall threat. And they have made a couple of changes; there seems to be a Mike McNamara influence there. He was brought in with a purpose in mind.

"Galway will be looking at the fact that Clare got to a point where they had a very intense type of game that was very difficult to hurl against and they will hope to bring that into the Galway set-up. Mike's training regime is legendary and if it works, then we could be in serious trouble."