NO ONE wants to keep going on about the same thing (although with some people, you're never sure), but it is surely appropriate to marvel for one last time at the venues for tomorrow's semi finals of the National Hurling League, sponsored by Church & General.

The original fault of making assumptions about semi finals before the quarter finals are over is more forgivable than the mute failure to call all bets off and reschedule the two matches as a double bill at Thurles.

As Wexford manager Liam Griffin pointed out during the week, the episode is distinctly at odds with the clearly defined rationale behind the hurling reforms passed by Congress.

The failure to harness the promotional benefits of having both semi finals on a double bill is, however, merely negligent compared to the callous frog marching of Wexford supporters all the way across the country to Limerick.

Exploiting the perennial willingness of these put upon folk displays much the same level of cynicism as that employed by those South American clinics that prescribe coffee enemas for terminally ill film stars.

Leaving aside for a moment the Great Trek, it is the semi final between Tipperary and Laois that commands slightly more interest, if only because it is Babs Keating's first competitive encounter with his own county since he coached the Galway team that lost to Tipperary in the 1979 League final.

There is additional interest in the strong possibility of a bit of an upset. Although Laois have emerged from Division Two and are regarded as outsiders, they are a strong, settled team with a lot of momentum, whereas Tipperary are still struggling to settle on a first choice 15 and tomorrow gamble on the re integration of established names. Nicky English and John Leahy.

Other considerations are also against Tipperary. They were narrowly defeated by Kilkenny, who in turn were beaten by Laois more comprehensively than the two points indicate. Keating's presence on the opposition line may be a marginal motivation, but it means Laois will have fairly encyclopaedical briefings on over half the Tipperary team.

Ironically, they are still inconvenienced by the venue. Nowlan Park is smaller than any other likely semi final venue and Tipperary, for whatever reason, do better on the big stage.

Despite the long term uncertainty, it is likely that Tipperary are approaching a championship team and that tomorrow's selection, barring disaster, contains most of its vital elements.

Aidan Ryan's return from a back injury will probably be at the expense of Brian O'Meara in a midfield which was decidedly second best on its most recent visit to Nowlan Park for the Division One fixture with Kilkenny.

Some fine tuning in the defence may also be on the cards, but not a great deal. Up front, places are available as the attack develops. Eddie Tucker, at cent re forward, joins his brother Kevin whose lively corner forward play represents one positive acquisition during the current League.

There will be trepidation about the performances of English and Leahy, as both of them playing to potential is a crucial element in the team's plans. English hasn't played competitive inter county since last June, whereas Leahy has that unpleasant Manchester business hanging over him, pending a trial date being set in England.

They will get a good test tomorrow. Leahy plays on Niall Rigney who has had a fine campaign for Laois, as evidenced by his general play against Kilkenny - even if his long range striking was uncharacteristically askew. English comes back to face the marking of Cyril Duggan who, assuming he recovers from a groin strain, along with Bill Maher and John Taylor constitutes Laois's strongest line.

Laois are built from the back. Their defence was tight against Kilkenny and helped by circumstances. The size of the team, in general, gave the backs a big advantage over a small attack like Kilkenny's, whose only big player was the out of sorts Michael Phelan. In addition, DJ Carey had a broken finger for nearly the whole match.

The combined effect of these deficiencies was to grant Joe Dollard the freedom of the pitch and his intelligent positioning made the most of the concession.

All the selected forwards scored from play, but that encouraging statistic obscures an unhappy total of wides which virtually quadrupled Kilkenny's. The tactic of bombing in ball for PJ Cuddy and Seamus Cuddy worked inasmuch as Kilkenny proved so listless in anticipation and pursuit of the breaking ball, but it was also the cause of much waste.

Laois have a good deal to recommend them going into this match. The reason for coming down against them relates to the difficulty their forwards had in putting away a fairly wretched Kilkenny challenge. Tipperary's defence is unlikely to be as lethargic.

Tipperary's defeat by Kilkenny was free from any taint that they had been trying too hard - as they had already secured a semifinal place. Tomorrow they have obvious motivation, if only to secure a further match in a fortnight.

The form of Leahy and English will have an immediate as well as a long term bearing on Tipperary's fortunes and without expecting too much of them, the result is expected to run in their favour.

Like Laois, Wexford will have found the result of their quarter final sufficiently uplifting to blot out deficiencies of performance.

The achievements were also quite similar. Offaly were probably even worse than Kilkenny and paid the price for sitting back, apparently in the infallible knowledge that they'd be able to pick up the match after Wexford evaporated.

It didn't happen and visibly gathering momentum as the second half wore on, Wexford fired over points from everywhere with, like Laois, all forwards scoring from play. The caveats for Laois apply equally to Wexford whose familiar and enormous wides total was largely made up of shots that went astray when the match was in the balance.

The match did have its compensations from Wexford's perspective. Larry Murphy's form was electric throughout and Martin Storey came into the match strongly as he began to find his feet after an injury enforced absence. Tom Dempsey had four points from play in the incongruous setting of the coiner.

There are plenty of uncertainties to be monitored in defence but until problems are caused it's hard to suggest that changes have to be made. Ger Cush was prominent against Offaly, but there remains a question over his capacity to play centre back on hot, hard pitches.

Galway come into the semifinal in surprisingly good form.

Despite all the trouble caused by the most recent upheavals, the panel has stuck together and hammered out some good results in the new year.

Cork were impressed by Galway's unity of purpose in a recent challenge. They looked happy and teamwork was good. Most significantly, they were useful up front with under age star Kevin Broderick playing out of his skin with good from Francis Forde and Joe Rabbitte working exceptionally hard, even if the returns didn't represent that fact.

Wexford should be able to improve on their quarter final display, but it will hardly be enough. Instead of the semi comatose opposition provided by Offaly, Wexford will have to face the one county whom it always suits to go as far as possible in the League.

Galway haven't won a League for seven years and haven't won any national title without Cyril Farrell's input since the 1930s. They have the motivation and the weaponry to punish lapses if Wexford take as long to get going as they did in the quarter final.

Liam Griffin will be well pleased if Wexford put up a good performance and show signs of having progressed further. That shouldn't be beyond the team now that they've found their feet. Actually winning, however, does look beyond them.

Finally, the arcane mysteries of the McKenna Cup are concluded for another year at Clones tomorrow. Down and Armagh make an intriguing pair of finalists. One of the currently fashionable Ulster theories is that Armagh may well go to Celtic Park in five weeks for the championship and beat Derry. (Not unless there's an `r' in the month says the IT).

Still, this will be a useful indicator. Down are also beginning to attract backers for one last crack at the championship. On the suspicion that they might well be going as well as people are saying and that, after two All Irelands, an understrength Down see limited psychological benefits from winning the McKenna Cup. Armagh get the nod.