Hurling Countdown to All-Ireland club semi-finalsIan O'Riordan talks to James Stephens manager Adrian Finan who believes his side are in the right mood after a break

In a strange break from tradition, James Stephens have celebrated the winter hiatus that precedes Sunday's All-Ireland club semi-finals. Most teams dread the two and a half months that fall after the provincial finals, fearing they'll lose form and momentum.

Yet the break has served James Stephens very well. Last March the team also known as "The Village" won their first All-Ireland title in 23 years, ending a long campaign that really stretched back to July, 2003. That was when they played Dunnamaggin in the opening round of the Kilkenny championship, where losing would have meant relegation. They survived to build towards the highest honour in club hurling, a title they'd also collected in 1976.

They were soon back in the Kilkenny championship, then working their way through the province, and last seen regaining the Leinster title by beating UCD on the last Sunday of November. So for them, Sunday's meeting with Galway and Connacht champions Portumna has come at just the right time.

"The long break has actually been very good from our point of view," explains manager Adrian Finan. "We'd a very long season last year, and in fact decided after winning the Leinster title we'd take the whole month of December off . . . And we didn't worry about that at all because we needed that break.

"So we only got back on January 1st and have built things up steadily since, and hopefully we're coming right now for Sunday. But we're still in the same boat as Portumna in that we won't really know how we're fixed until we take to the field. I just feel the lads are in the right mood, and I'd be expecting a big performance out of them."

Finan has good reason to display such confidence. They'll field almost exactly the same line-up that collected the All-Ireland title over Athenry last March, and won their way through Leinster again. The only change is Joe Murray has taken over at wing forward from Joe Murphy, although he did play a substitute role last year as well. The team is still built on Kilkenny veterans such as Peter Barry and Brian McEvoy, along with fresher faces such as Eoin Larkin, Jackie Tyrell and Donncha Cody.

With a fully fit panel, Finan's only concern about Sunday is whether the players still have the hunger to pursue the big prize. He believes winning it last year won't have done them any harm.

"Well I'd say there are pluses and minuses," he says. "There was certainly a novelty about last year's run, and there's an energy that comes with that. But then there's the confidence that comes from winning, and I think we have more of that this year than last year. I feel there is a great belief within the team.

"But all that is only so helpful. Once the ball is thrown in it's all down to the appetite on the day. But I sense the hunger is still there . . . there's such a great tradition in the club at this level, particularly in winning club All-Irelands and trying to make it to St Patrick's Day."

In fact they've already proven that hunger is still there in the way they beat UCD in the Leinster final, coming from behind to secure a four-point win: "Yeah, we certainly showed great spirit, and talking among ourselves that evening we said it would have been easy to back off that challenge, and accept a defeat. But they didn't. They dug themselves out of a serious hole and showed the desire they have to keep winning, even when teams are going back."

Portumna will share that hunger as they pursue their first All-Ireland title. In recent weeks they've played some similar challenge games to James Stephens with better results, and Finan hasn't given one thought beyond Sunday. "I think everybody realises Sunday's match is as good as a final, and no one is thinking about St Patrick's Day. Since we beat UCD it's all been about February 12th. But I think there's equal pressure on both teams."

The only drawback to progressing this far again was that team had to cancel a planned skiing holiday last month, one of the rewards for winning the All-Ireland last year. "That did have to go by the wayside," says Finan, "but in fairness it was the lads who cancelled it. Whenever we do get around to doing it now I just don't know."