A goalscorer of some menace, Eddie Brennan has yet to establish himself as a championship starter. Seán Moran talks to the Graigue-Ballycallan manabout how a good performance tomorrow may finally see him make Brian Cody's summer frontline

There is a suggestion of the Twilight Zone about his current situation. Eddie Brennan has been arriving for about two years. Fast, with an eye for goal, he has over the past two seasons been one of those archetypal good prospects that the league showcases. Yet, come the summer, he has slipped back into the greater panel, his appearances confined to a substitute's role.

Tomorrow in the Allianz NHL final, he's there in the right corner of a Kilkenny team that has looked improvised and experimental all through the campaign, but which manager Brian Cody insists is his best team. In the circumstances he's right.

Injuries and suspension have combined to enforce the new-look line-ups, but the league final against Cork will provide further evidence for Cody and his selectors as they reach a verdict on what the championship side will look like.

Kilkenny's front eight still awaits the return of DJ Carey, Charlie Carter, Brian McEvoy and Denis Byrne. Is this where Eddie gets to hear the music? Young Kilkenny corner forward in national final. Watch him closely because in a month he will have vanished.

If the uncertainty gets to him, he disguises it well. "It might surprise people outside the panel that we have got this far, but we've made a decent effort and this is serious hurling, as close as possible to the championship. Competition for places keeps you on your toes. It's not just the lads who are missing. Apart from that there's competition, but also a great camaraderie. A lot of us came up together from the under-21s in 1999. Brian Cody has told us that if we put in the effort and commitment, no-one's going to just walk back into the team ahead of us."

Brennan, 24 this year, would be familiar with delayed arrival. As a youngster he developed late. A member of the under-21 side that won the All-Ireland three years ago, he wasn't considered for the minors of 1996 and only made the St Kieran's colleges team in his last year.

Jim Neary coaches the local club Graigue-Ballycallan and has known Brennan for years.

"Edward's assets are his speed, his ability to pick up ball in open spaces. He operates away from the crowd, away from the storm. This told against him when he was young. He wasn't in the thick of things. Under-age, you have to win the odd ball because your team mightn't be strong enough to keep you supplied."

Brennan himself agrees. "I suppose when I was 14 or 15 I was a bit timid. But that can't happen at senior. You have to win your own position. I knew I had to get more determined."

How he won his position in senior hurling was a protracted process. One of the strangest statistics about Eddie Brennan's career is that despite being the proud possessor of an All-Ireland under-21 medal, he didn't get to play for his club's senior team for another year. Injury ruled him out of the 1999 county championship and by the time he helped the club to Kilkenny and Leinster titles, he had scored a goal in a senior All-Ireland final, the destruction of Offaly in 2000.

About six months later, he was back in Croke Park as Graigue-Ballycallan contested an epic All-Ireland club final against Athenry.

Seconds away from a stunning title, the Kilkenny club were hauled into extra time and lost narrowly. But Brennan was again high profile in a quality attack featuring his contemporaries, the Hoyne brothers, Denis Byrne and veteran Adrian Ronan.

He traces the turning point in his development back to early 1999 when he was a student at the Garda College in Templemore.

"I'd nearly credit Ken Hogan [Tipperary selector] with it," he recalls. "I was going to leave coming up to the Fitzgibbon because there were trials on at home. Ken said to me that I should concetrate on the Fitzgibbon and let that do it for me. So I did. It's the one competition I'd have given anything to win."

Garda College were defeated by ultimate winners Waterford IT in the semi-finals that year and the chance would seem to have passed. But Brennan's profile improved sufficiently for him to make the grade with the Kilkenny under-21s that summer.

The senior breakthrough followed in the spring when his injury cleared and Brian Cody came calling. A first senior competitive start came in the league against Tipperary two years ago. It was a memorable debut, culiminating in a tally of 2-2.

It came complete with a renewed acquaintance. Donncha Fahy, the Tipp corner back marking him, had been at St Kieran's with Brennan.

"Myself and Donncha are great oul' friends, but I was dreading marking him. He's tough and a good hurler, but the ball went for me. It was one of the most satisfying days I've had."

Jim Neary is amused at the memory. "I think having being at school together, Donncha Fahy might have underestimated him. He stood off him and that's all Edward wants. I don't think Nicky English was too impressed."

In fact, Fahy didn't play championship for Tipperary for another 18 months, coming on as a substitute in last September's final against Galway.

Brennan's championship scoring record is very impressive for someone who has rarely started. Since he was brought into the panel, Kilkenny have played seven championship matches. He has lined out in only one of those, against Dublin in 2000, and wasn't required at all for another, the Galway semi-final the same year. Coming on as a substitute in the other five fixtures, he has proved himself a fluent scorer. From his one start and five appearances off the bench, Brennan has amassed 4-2.

Such an obvious goal threat makes him a marked man, but it also allows him too much of a comfort zone. A tendency to put the head down and, in rugby terms, "go for the corner" ignores the rich seam of points that someone with his pace and ability could so profitably tap.

Interestingly, Graigue-Ballycallan have been experimenting with a broader application.

"He's played midfield for us recently," says Neary, "and gave the the best contribution he's ever made in a match in the 12 or 13 years that I've known him. He's quite a good grab and he also hit a lovely point from 70 or 80 yards.

"I think we'll use him further out in future, from the half forwards out. We haven't got the best out of him yet and that's not his fault - it's just his full talent is something special."

Brennan looks forward to tomorrow. "A game like this is a measure of how you're progressing and shaping up for the championship."

He is speaking in a team context but could as easily be referring to his own status. Cork corner back Fergal Ryan is on top form at the moment and will test his marker's credentials.

Should Eddie Brennan emerge unscathed, there may be no need to adjust the picture in a month's time.