Tomorrow's Munster football semi-final between Laune Rangers and Castlehaven at the Cork team's home ground raises one general question about the club championship. Both teams recently lost county finals but as their respective conquerors were divisional teams, East Kerry and Beara respectively, they progress despite defeat.

Why should divisional sides continue to be excluded from this competition? Evidence in both Cork and Kerry suggests that the divisions compete at parity with the club sides and, in fact, any domination of the counties has been more likely to be at the hands of clubs rather than divisions.

At present, teams that have soldiered successfully through two of the hardest-won county championships in the country find themselves deprived of the extra challenge of provincial and All-Ireland competition whereas the defeated county finalists go into the matches under a cloud of disappointment.

Laune and Castlehaven have enough experience (two Munster titles apiece in the last eight years) to set aside their depression and focus on the excellent chance of All-Ireland progression for the winners, but there is a weariness about both sides.

Castlehaven are an ageing team in two respects. Drawn as they are from such a tiny catchment area, passing generations of players are difficult to replace and half of the team which defeated Laune at this stage eight years ago is still there. In another sense, they are still dependent on two exceptional players who will never be replaced, Larry Tompkins and Niall Cahalane.

In the county final and replay against Beara it was noticeable how much of the ball passed through the two veterans and Beara believe that younger legs constituted one of the main advantages they had in the closing minutes.

Tompkins himself is mindful of this characterisation of his club. "We have a population of about 600 and no access to passing players. We're tied to what we have. We are trying not to depend on us so much and this year, in fairness, new players - like the Crowleys, in particular, and Kevin Donovan - certainly have lifted our game and shown the way. Maybe some of the others will follow suit."

Consequently, the loss through injury of centrefielder David O'Regan is a big loss to Castlehaven.

Laune have their own problems. The broken leg sustained by Billy O'Shea in the All-Ireland final deprived the club of a major influence. Otherwise they are largely injury-free, although captain Tommy Byrne is carrying a back strain. But the club is trying for a third successive Munster title - a feat never before achieved by a Kerry club - and two years ago, they won the All-Ireland.

All of this adds up to a fair mileage, even for a club whose prodigious supply of underage talent allows them possibilities of renewal that Castlehaven can hardly dream of. Manager John Evans has already announced that this campaign will be his last in charge of the team and there have been signs that fatigue is getting to everyone.

In the past, the Killorglin team have always been able to conjure up devastating forward play: the four goals that killed off Eire Og in the 1996 All-Ireland final and the late points-storm that toppled Clonakilty in last year's Munster final. This year, the scores haven't been coming as easily. "We didn't take our chances in the county final," according to long-serving (45 years) joint-treasurer Jimmy Coffey, "or even during the early parts of the championship. In the past two years we were always good for 13, 14 or 15 points and maybe a goal or two, but this time we've been under 10 points in a lot of games.

"If Mike Russell and Pa Sullivan hit it off, we'll win, but we need to get more from the forwards in general. Gerard Murphy and Paul Griffin were well held by the East Kerry backs and if there was a furore over how they did it, I don't accept it as a reason. There's a saying in Kerry, `God gives you two elbows' and forwards must look after themselves."

Russell is undoubtedly the biggest individual danger to Castlehaven, but more pervasively, Laune have a consistency throughout the field which looks superior to the home side's. John Sheehan at 19 has been a remarkably composed full back and both Adrian and Mike Hassett are in good form; Mike's semi-final display against West Kerry is described as "a massive display" by Jimmy Coffey.

All-Ireland winning captain Liam Hassett provides the physical focus up front and whereas the scoring returns have room for large-scale improvement on either side, Laune look to have the more promising potential.