Leinster SHC Semi-final: The old adage about league form having no connection to the championships finds one of its last exemplars in Offaly hurling.

Almost single-handedly they keep some strength in that tradition. Among the lowlights of this past league was the 21-point loss to Dublin and the subsequent relegation after losing to Laois. It's a wonder that they so frequently turn that form around.

So in Croke Park tomorrow they'll come out against Dublin with all the ghosts of their spring well behind them. The quarter-final win over Laois was enough evidence of their latest metamorphosis.

And for Dublin the scene couldn't be more contrasting, the uncertainties and imprecision still winning out over any sign of consistency.

"We know it wasn't our most spectacular performance against Westmeath," says captain Kevin Flynn, referring to Dublin's quarter-final last Sunday. "But we wanted the victory out of it and that's what we got. And if it had been a fabulous performance it would only have brought more expectations into the Offaly game."

It wasn't just the performance that lowered the expectations. Conal Keaney's straight red card has deprived them of their best hurler, and the second part of that double bill saw Wexford beating Kilkenny - thus giving Offaly the added incentive of making the Leinster final. They haven't won the provincial title since 1995, and facing Kilkenny is still slightly more daunting than facing Wexford.

"I suppose originally our incentive was to beat Westmeath and beat Offaly," adds Flynn, "and then get to play Kilkenny in a Leinster final. Now it's like beat Offaly so that we don't have to play Kilkenny.

"But we're not going to dwell on things like losing Conal Keaney. We'll just get on with it. Of course he's a big addition to the team, but it means all of us know we'll just have to give it that extra bit. And Wexford beating Kilkenny hasn't changed our focus on Offaly. We still feel if we can beat them, we can beat anyone. So we'd be quietly confident. But certainly not blindly or stupidly confident."

Flynn is as well placed as anyone to reflect the current mood of the Dublin hurlers. He'll start again at full forward tomorrow but could end up anywhere around the forward lines or at midfield. That versatility has come with experience, and having made his championship debut in 1996 he's endured the series of shake-ups and fresh starts that have marked Dublin hurling for the past decade.

When Humphrey Kelleher took over as manager for the new season he became the fifth new face during Flynn's senior career - following Jimmy Gray, Donal O'Grady, Kevin Fennelly and Marty Morris. Although Kelleher's enthusiasm and belief in Dublin hurling is huge, the big breakthrough the county still craves seems as far off as ever.

"We do have a lot of under-21 players on the panel," says Flynn, "a lot more than any other year I've been involved. They've integrated with the senior set-up very well.

"But every time a new manager comes in he hits you with new ideas . . . He certainly has brought in a lot of enthusiasm, and also his own training methods, and other things too, like dieticians. They have been there before but he has brought them on to a different level. And I feel everyone is taking those things on board."

There were moves at the start of the season to employ the services of fitness coach Jim Kilty, but he'd already committed to Wexford. Instead the Dublin hurlers have been working with Will Heffernan, a strength-and-conditioning coach with experience in several sports. That's just one of the changes Flynn believes will ultimately take Dublin in the right direction.

"The traditionalists will always say that the hurling more than anything else will stand to you. But it helps when you're that bit faster and that bit fitter. You also have to combine the two, because it's no use getting to the ball first if you can't control it.

"And the game continues to evolve. When I first came in, it was training on a Tuesday and a Thursday, and a match at the weekend. Now you're out five or six nights a week between club and county.

"So it's like you're constantly aware of what you're doing, and how it might impact the match at the weekend. Like should I eat this or drink that. It just feels so much more professional these days."

Flynn was sidelined with injury when Dublin put 4-21 past Offaly in the league, yet he knows that game will have no bearing on tomorrow. It's more likely they'll take some inspiration from the Leinster semi-final meeting of 1991, when Dublin took Offaly with a two-point victory. That and the fact that Leinster hurling might still be capable of another great surprise.