Pat Fanning will defy medical advice and come to Croke Park on Sunday to watch his native Waterford attempt to qualify for their first All-Ireland final since 1963. Now in his 80th year, Fanning has served the game at all levels up to, and including, the presidency and believes that he will be more relaxed in Croke Park than he would be at home.

"I would be on tenterhooks at home and glued to a chair, but in Croke Park I'll be able to be excited without being tied to the box," he says. As far as the match is concerned, he has an open mind. "Let me put it like this. I have watched Kilkenny for 60 years and I don't think I have ever seen a bad Kilkenny side. They have played poor matches and made mistakes like the rest of us but, when it comes to a match of this importance, I can't see them being anything but good.

"The two sides play a similar brand of hurling and, if the weather is reasonable, I am expecting a fine game of hurling. It has been a wonderful year for Waterford and has brought back memories to me, and people of my generation, of the great era of 1957 to '63. We had great players then like Frankie Walsh, Philly Grimes, Seamus Power, Martin Og Morrissey and Austin Flynn. "They were classy hurlers and I see elements in the present team which remind me of them. An interesting point is that Tony Browne, who is an excellent hurler, is the grandson of Fad (Pat) Browne who played for Ireland against America in the Tailteann Games in Croke Park in 1932.

"You might think that didn't count for much but the fact is that most of the American team were lads who had left Ireland after the Civil War and the years that followed. Tad was later a Fianna Fail TD and Mayor of Waterford and his grandson has all of his best qualities as well as playing in the same position in midfield."

Fanning believes that the Waterford players are still maturing and identified players like Tom Feeney, Browne, Ken McGrath and others as the players who will re-establish the strength of Waterford hurling.

"I don't believe they will be afraid of Kilkenny, but I would be cautious. They have more natural hurlers, than any other county, who are always capable of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Waterford have lived in their shadow for many years. I believe that, because of that, their performance in the Leinster championship has to be set aside.

"We saw how Offaly improved last week to play well above the standard which they set in the Leinster final. That was a masterly performance. Kilkenny will do the same but, if we play as well as we did against Galway in the quarter final, we can go on. The best I can say is that we are going into the match with guarded confidence," he says. He describes the relationship between Waterford and Kilkenny as one of "mutual respect". The teams from either bank of the Suir have always been rivals while maintaining admiration for each other. "We have battled each other for years but never with any bitterness.

"No matter what way you look at it, it is a very evenly matched game with Kilkenny's experience of the pressures giving them an edge, while Waterford have huge enthusiasm and great potential. "The interest here in Waterford is extraordinary and the same is true of Kilkenny, especially in the southern part of the county. I believe there will be 50,000 people in Croke Park and, just like last Sunday, it will be a very colourful occasion".

One gets the impression that Pat Fanning, medical advice and the result notwithstanding, will enjoy himself on Sunday.