MOSTLY HURLING:Enigmatic Waterford will need to produce a huge display to deny this Kilkenny team their deserved destiny, writes John Allen

IS THIS present Waterford team an enigma? What is an enigma? The Wordweb dictionary offers the explanation - "something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained". Would it be fair to describe this team as one?

I suppose it mightn't be too far off the mark. Over the last five years they have been difficult enough to comprehend.

In 2004 they won a fantastic Munster final with 14 men, against a Cork team that seemed to hold all the aces. With or without John Mullane, they headed to the All-Ireland series with a great deal of hope, but unfortunately failed to cross the penultimate hurdle.

Even back then the word on the street seemed to be that maybe this team was gone. The following year the Déise fell to Cork twice, providing further evidence that this team was on the slide.

But up they got again (fuelling the enigma theory) the following year, but again fell to Cork, in an epic, with the final day only three weeks away. The obituaries were again written, but the players didn't believe them.

Before the cuckoo had arrived at the end of the following spring, Waterford, that enigmatic team, were league champions, beating Kilkenny in the final.

The signs were good as championship 2007 began. They overcame Limerick in the Munster final, took two shots before finally dispatching Cork and in the All-Ireland semi, a rematch with Limerick was the draw they wanted. But fate and Limerick had other ideas. Failure proved to be their lot again as their enigmatic nature returned.

Now for certain it was felt that Flynner, Dan, Tony, Mullane and Ken would have to settle for being the nearly men. What a shame for such wonderful hurlers.

In the first game of championship '08 the loyal Waterford public witnessed the worse performance of this particular team. There seemed to be no doubt now but this group of players would never even play in an All-Ireland final.

So the team which had played so many epic matches since the early years of the century was, it seemed, destined to failure.

But circumstances took over again and their manager of the previous seven seasons, Justin McCarthy, was relieved of his post and the enigma that is Davy Fitzgerald stepped into the breech.

And so a renaissance of sorts began but the early signs weren't great. Offaly and Wexford could have beaten them so the signs weren't too positive as they headed to play the most improved team of the year, Tipperary.

But enigmas don't do the obvious. With Ken McGrath back out at number six, the Déise dominated the game from beginning to end. Happy days were back again. The scenes on the field afterwards reflected the joy the fans felt.

So the team that deserves the title, enigma, should now be ready for the latest instalment.

Psychologically, it might be the fans are satisfied their team have finally broken the semi-final hoodoo? Will that do for this year? There's a danger this mentality could permeate through to the team. 'Progress has been made at last and sure if they don't win well there's always next year' - might be a line of thinking which has excuse written all over it.

But while there is always next year there's no guarantee all the players will be still playing and there's also no guarantee Waterford will make it through to the final.

The players will, at some level, of course, be going all out go win, but so too will Kilkenny.

Player for player are Waterford as good as Kilkenny? Probably not.

While Waterford produced a very good team performance against Tipperary they also had luck on their side. When the very impressive Eoin McGrath's shot in hope from the sideline went over the bar halfway through the first half I knew Waterford's luck was in and, have no doubt about it, a team needs a bit of luck. Often enough it has deserted the Déise men.

Kilkenny, on the other hand haven't needed luck this year.This is as good a team as the Black and Amber have ever produced. Some of the stickwork against Cork was bordering on wizardry. It was definitely a case of the quickness of the hand deceives the eye.

The biggest obstacle I see for Waterford, and this has been an obstacle for a while, is a lack of consistency and a tendency to lose the head if the game isn't going their way.

This will be a physical game and the Déise should be a match for the Cats in that department but it's in the 'keeping your head when all around are losing theirs' that Waterford might fall short. Because, be assured, Kilkenny will play on the margins but will also accept it on the margins. Waterford mightn't. How often have we seen various Waterford players losing the head?

Concentration will be vital, particularly when the game might be going against them. If I was devising a game plan to cut down Kilkenny's influence on the game I'd be trying to play long almost all of the time.

I'd be for buying into GAA's Cúl Green eco-initiative by letting the sliotar do most of the travelling and cutting down on the footprints, carbon or otherwise. Kilkenny's wristwork is so good that the less often they get a chance to play the sliotar the better for Waterford.

Brian Cody's charges were so impressive against Cork that it is difficult to look beyond them.

The names are household, Tommy, JJ, Cha, Henry, Eddie, surnames not needed. This is a great team but even great teams still have to produce the goods on the big day.

We've witnessed a few surprises in the football championship this summer and it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that we could see a hurling bolt from the blue on Sunday.

At the second time of asking, though, Kilkenny deserve to make their own bit of history and so does Brian Cody and his management team.

It should be a wonderful occasion but maybe, this time, it will be a case of 'beidh lá eile ag an bPaorach' for the enigmatic Déise men.