THE funny thing about Michael Coleman's captaincy of the Galway hurlers is that you'd hardly notice it. Inside the county, tributes to his leadership and attention to team morale are plentiful. But to the outside world, it's what you'd expect.

For nearly 10 years, Galway's midfielder has been such a respected figure, inexorably ascending the mountain in virtually every big match he plays, that the captain's role seems an irrelevance. Since being named Galway Hurler of the Year in 1988, the last time the county won an All Ireland, his contributions have been the essence of on field leadership.

Even at random, the years yield memories of towering performances his first All Ireland in 1988 his best All Ireland in 1990 his tour de force on a beaten team in last year's semi final against Clare. It's not necessary to have a C in brackets after your name to epitomise leadership.

The testimonies give a fair indication. Tony Regan, coach of UCG's Fitzgibbon team, remembers Coleman's contribution during his time there "He was a great leader and a tremendous influence on people. He was great to build camaraderie. On the pitch he'd never be pulling up, just go out there and open his shoulders. Whatever he had to say would count, he wouldn't be talking for the sake of talking.

"When the ball is dropping around the middle of the field, other players might be waiting to see what happens, but he's there trying to make it happen."

In the memorable description of one former teammate "Going up there like a helicopter, swinging legs, arms, hurleys, coming down with the ball and then only one way forward, no fancy sidesteps, just direct hurling.

"He's a huge influence," says Matt Murphy, the Galway manager. "Coleman going well is Galway going well. He's a big presence and I think he has a new lease of life with the younger fellas around him," Murphy says. "He's a players' player, helpful to everybody. He's got size, strength and one of the biggest hearts in the game. A lot of the older players, but him in particular, went out of their way to make the transition from under age so easy for the younger fellas."

The GAA president, Jack Boothman, appointed him to the Players' Liaison Committee without even talking to Coleman just on the basis of seeing his authority on the pitch.

The only blank Coleman really drew was the injury blighted All Ireland of 1993. His shoulder was damaged beyond feasible repair in the semi final against Tipp (recuperation required six weeks, the GAA calendar granted only four). He took the field in the All Ireland final swathed in bandages and replete with painkillers. Just how inadequate these precautions were became clear with the first Kilkenny challenge.

Coleman unwisely volunteered for a first half penalty, which he missed, and ended the match as corner forward. People forget, however, and in this year's League semi final against Wexford, when Francis Forde missed a penalty, there were grumbles in the crowd questioning "why Coleman didn't take it".

Now 33, he has put behind him a couple of years of frustrating injuries and may finally be on the verge of anchoring a new Galway bid for the big time.

His own career goes back to the days of plenty in the late 1980s. Although he played in the 1987 League final, he was dropped from the championship panel and the nearest he got to that year's All Ireland winning team was when the team bus passed him in Dorset Street on the day of the final.

He explained the disappointment of that year to the Sunday Tribune two years ago "Around 1987 the major thing for me was a lack of self belief.

I played in the League final against Clare and I wasn't hectic. I was marking Johnny Callinan, who was well and truly experienced, and I remember I just couldn't get the ball up into my hand that day. Then the championship came along and a new panel of players came in."

Seven years since the last national title and two deeply disappointing All Ireland semi final defeats in the last two years indicates the recent drift in Galway, but with the massive resources of under age success being processed into a settled team with settled cover, hopes are beginning to rise again.

"I suppose since last October, after the All Ireland semi final," says Coleman, "we knuckled down and said we had to put something together for this year. Along with Matt Murphy, we decided we had to win the League. Before Christmas stood us in good stead Cork, Kilkenny, Tipp and Clare.

Since then, there was a bit of an upheaval. We didn't think a whole lot about it at the time, but we're delighted it worked out."

The "upheaval" refers to the resignation of selector Frank Burke in January, which sparked off a bout of the internal power playing that seems an indispensable part of the Galway hurling board's remit.

"He (Matt Murphy) kept on with the job he was at and kept the players away from it," says Coleman. "We went out and played challenges. The players' objective was to keep going.

"It was about settling a team rather than anything else. The team has settled and there haven't been a whole lot of switches The evolution was to a certain degree that we had a good few under age titles. There has been a consistency this year, the team has been doing fairly well. We have a fair idea of where the team stands. The side has had 14 or 15 matches together.

"We're beginning to feel we know how to play each other, things are going reasonably well.

"Going back over the last couple of years, maybe we weren't that strong a panel. To accommodate an injury in one position, we might have to make two or three changes. Now most positions can be filled with players who know what they're doing."

In any year, the League is of huge importance to Galway. Without the assistance (or hindrance, depending on your view) of a provincial structure, they need to maintain a League presence as long as possible, just to keep the panel together.

There is another reason. A young, developing year could do with the reassurance of winning a national title, to keep confidence topped during the months when other counties are emerging from their respective provinces. Galway haven't had that feeling since 1989. Coleman is wary of the prospect of losing tomorrow.

"Seven years since and you'd begin to have doubts will it be another one of those years? A win would really set us up for the championship, a stepping stone. For us to win an All Ireland, we'd want to be able to contest a League final, especially the younger players. Defeat sends morale down.

These lessons are fairly fresh. Two years ago, after a brave clip at Kilkenny in the 1993 All Ireland final, Galway stormed through the League and went into the final against Tipperary as hot favourites. A couple of injuries undermined the effort and John Leahy did the rest, destroying Galway.

"It's hard to know what happened. We went well against Clare, but Tipp are great fighters and took us apart. We were coming from the year before when we beat them in the All Ireland (semi final) and maybe we underestimated them."

That won't happen again, but the outcome will be crucial for Galway as they feel their way towards the championship. Defeat would reawake the old uncertainties, but Coleman prefers to look at the brighter side which he does with some understatement.

"Looking at that team, you'd say if they can win (tomorrow) they could do well for a year or two.

You would.