All-Ireland SHC semi-final/Waterford v Limerick:Tomorrow's a big day for Limerick hurling. It's 11 years since the county was in an All-Ireland semi-final. The years since have been replete with disappointed hopes and at times rock-bottom failure.

For the most successful hurling county outside the Big Three, the past decade has been miserable. Limerick's chances of reaching the final are, however, blocked by a Waterford side that most of the country wants to see facing Kilkenny on the first Sunday of next month. It's a mood and even an assumption that has, according to Limerick manager Richie Bennis, already animated his team.

The public attitude is easily explained by Waterford's ledger of hard-luck entries - this is their fifth semi-final in 10 seasons and they still await a first final appearance since 1963 - and the side's blend of power, dazzle and fragility.

And Limerick have been here before because the county throughout its history has formed the curious habit of running into emerging counties on the threshold of breakthroughs - and their record in those contests isn't good.

Waterford's south-east neighbours Wexford are a particular bane. They won their first hurling All-Ireland at Limerick's expense back in 1910 and since then have won all but one of the counties' meetings. The great 1950s team won its breakthrough MacCarthy Cup in 1955, having gone through Limerick in the semi-final.

Known as "Mackey's Greyhounds" after the legendary Mick Mackey who trained them, Limerick's emphasis that year was on pace and quick movement. They destroyed a hotly fancied Clare team, who had just eliminated both All-Ireland champions Cork and Tipperary.

But Wexford, after a couple of losing All-Irelands, weren't to be denied and went on to beat Galway in the final to claim their first title in 45 years.

Eleven years ago Liam Griffin's team burst out of Wexford in a blaze of nostalgia and emotion and survived being a man short to administer Limerick's second All-Ireland final defeat in three years.

Remarkably, Limerick have a better All-Ireland record against Kilkenny than they do against Wexford.

Eamonn Cregan's personal story intersects with this story at a number of junctures. As a boy he saw the 1955 Munster final before going on to play on the next Limerick team to win Munster, which went on also to capture the 1973 All-Ireland - the county's only title since 1940 - defeating Kilkenny and at the end of his playing career he featured in the final that gave Galway its first All-Ireland in 57 seasons.

(The Galway connection is another example of the historical trend. The Westerners' first hurling All-Ireland came after a surprising win over Limerick.

According to Pádraic Ó Laoi's Annals of the GAA in Galway, volume II: "The media and know-alls considered Galway's display in winning the 1923 All-Ireland as a fluke".)

Then as a manager Cregan led Offaly to a memorable All-Ireland triumph in 1994, against his own county when in a whirlwind 250 seconds they undid Limerick's 65 minutes of patient superiority.

Cregan doesn't have a simple answer as to why Limerick have so frequently ended up as hostages to other people's fortune but feels that a Munster title for teams not used to it on a regular basis takes more out of teams physically and psychologically than would be the case in Leinster.

"Maybe it was a slight touch of over-confidence. In our day you grew up with the Munster title as the be-all and end-all.

"I remember the '94 semi-finals. That was the day one Limerick fella was trying to throw a ball over an Antrim player's head and make a fool of him. You could sense the Offaly players thinking: 'That's not going to happen to us.'

"It's so hard to come out of Munster that winning the provincial title is a huge accomplishment but you have to try and keep that going. The intensity in Munster starts in the first round and when a team's not used to winning it can be difficult to maintain that intensity."

Another factor he believes is the public excitement that greets even qualified success in a county where that isn't the norm.

"It's not intentional but there is a lot of hype around Limerick when they get out of the province.

"It's a small town and you very easily get this vibe: 'we're going to win, we're going to win'. Even before the Munster final this year somebody wrote about five Waterford players "who would wilt in the last 10 minutes". I think media in places like Cork are more critical of their teams and keep them on their toes a bit more."

Cregan identifies a further difficulty in the reluctance of the county's officialdom to hold its nerve when dealing with the management of and development of county teams.

"In 1966 we beat Tipperary, who were on an All-Ireland three-in-a-row, in the Munster first round and lost to Cork (who won that year's All-Ireland) by a point in Killarney. The next year half the team were dropped.

"Phil Bennis was there in the early 1990s and had taken the minors in 1984 and the under-21s in 1987 to All-Irelands. Then he won a National League in 1992 but lost to Clare in the championship a year later and he was gone.

"Tom Ryan took over and won two Munsters, in 1994 and '96, and reached All-Ireland finals but in 1997 he was gone too."

Tomorrow Limerick are back in the fray against a county frantic for an All-Ireland before their best team in generations fades. It's an unusual task, as Waterford are another Munster team and familiarity certainly won't be a problem after last month's provincial final.

But will the light at the end of the tunnel illuminate their way forward or simply and as usual be someone else's horizon?