Tyrone v Wexford: Portlaoise, Sunday, 2.0 On TV TG4: Having made it to their first National League semi-final since 1950, every neutral in the country is rooting for Wexford to go on and win the thing now. Building on last year's series of outstanding Sundays,

Wexford have been similarly good value in this league and as well as measuring up against the traditional counties, they play lovely football under Pat Roe.

But the Laois man sounded a sensible note this week when he reminded the public training is geared towards the championship. And he is right. Leinster medals should be the priority for Wexford this year.

It is hard to see them beating Tyrone this afternoon. Mickey Harte still adheres to the belief that winning breeds winning and his team have been competitive on the road and at home this year.

Their championship team is still taking shape, with veteran Chris Lawn blooming as the most likely candidate for full back. The reliance on Lawn may suggest a lack of options for Harte and Wexford's forwards may fancy their chances of adding to the 12 goals they have bagged to date. However, Tyrone's defence has conceded just five, two of those in that helter-skelter encounter with Kerry.

And Wexford will need goals to win. Up in Sligo and against Galway at home, they looked ordinary and vulnerable - and it was significant that Matty Forde was less than influential on both those occasions. They are learning all the time at this level and rely on exuberant attacking football rather than the cold ability to kill a game. Although Nicky Lambert and Diarmuid Kinsella are comfortable footballers, they struggled at midfield in the close win against Laois.

With Brian McGuigan said to be considering a return from Australia, Peter Canavan sticking with club football though he has picked up a hamstring injury, Mark Harte returning to form despite some appalling heckling from the terraces, there is the sense Tyrone are scrapping for summer places. They have enviable depth in their forward division. However, they are not unbeatable and against Mayo were vulnerable to pure football, a category that fits Wexford.

Forde and John Hudson are the kind of players who rise to the occasion. And with Owen Mulligan falling to injury even as Stephen O'Neill, who blitzed all comers in the league, returning after a short spell on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, Wexford are with a good shout.

But the northern team have come through a very tough division with flying colours and are firmly of the view that winning is the only habit worth pursuing.

TYRONE: P McConnell; R McMenamin, C Lawn, S Sweeney; C Gormley, G Devlin, P Jordan; C Holmes, S Cavanagh; B Dooher (capt), R Mellon, E McGinley; M Coleman, S O'Neill, M Penrose.

WEXFORD: J Cooper; C Morris, P Wallace, N Murphy; D Breen, D Murphy, S Cullen; D Kinsella, N Lambert; D Fogarty, P Colfer, J Hegarty; R Barry, J Hudson, M Forde.