Few hurling teams can claim to have a more imposing figure than Darragh Ryan to lead them out on the big hurling day.

The Wexford skipper is a 6 ft 4 in heavyweight whose hurling skills are honed to perfection. "For a big man he has superb control and moves well," says Liam Griffin, who steered the county to its last All-Ireland success in I996.

"I feel it is a real honour to lead Wexford in an All-Ireland situation," says the 26-year-old civil engineer. "Sunday's match will be the biggest match in my hurling career, one game away from an All-Ireland final."

Dual-player Ryan was not in the 1996 squad. This is only his third season with the county's senior hurlers.

"The main strength of our team is the same as any of the other top teams and is based on the amount of training that is done. These days every team has to train desperately hard four days a week," he says.

Interest in the side has multiplied within the county since the Leinster finalists defied the odds by beating Limerick.

"Only 4,000 tickets were taken up by Wexford followers for that game but that didn't worry us on the pitch. We knew the 4,000 that were there are the genuine supporters that follow the team whether we win or lose. It means more to the players to have won a match before those 4,000 than it would in front of 20,000."

The win over Limerick was the most important thing that happened to Wexford hurling for a while.

"A lot of bad things were said about us after the Leinster final. Had we taken our chances there wouldn't have been as much in it at the finish but our critics were only prepared to look at the 15 points difference on the scoreboard at the end," says Ryan. "Now that we have succeeded there is a renewed confidence throughout the squad.

"The introduction of our under-21 players has created a great sense of youthful enthusiasm. The balance is right. The younger players look up big time to fellas like Larry Murphy, Larry O'Gorman, Paul Codd and Rory McCarthy. It's great to see young lads brimful with such confidence. They have all reacted very positively to their promotions and we look to them again on Sunday."

Ryan has a strong belief in what it takes to win a big championship match. "When you get to championship hurling the form-book goes out the window. It all depends on who is up for it more on the day. The most skilful teams don't always win."

The captain is pleased to have clubmate David O'Connor, one of the five under-21 stars, on his left in the full-back line. "You could say that I am only adapting to the full-back position because it is only my first season in the position. I was always a centre back both in football and hurling. You get great confidence when you see a player like Liam Dunne out there in front of you at centre back."

Rory Mallon at right corner back, Nicky Lambert at centre forward, Darren Stamp at wing forward and Trevor Kelly at midfield are the other under-21s in the side.

"We are looking forward to the big time, the first time we have been in an All-Ireland semi-final in four years. Tipperary beat us that day but we don't look upon this as a grudge match or anything like that," says Ryan.

And what of his contest with Tipperary full forward Declan Ryan? "I've never marked him before, I'll just take it as it comes. He's very strong and very skilful as well. He is good in possession and it's very hard to get the ball back off him."

It may well be the key tussle of the match.