IN THE long tunnel under the old stand in Nowlan Park Anthony Daly stood and reflected on the journey. He had come this path with Clare back in the early 1990s, through a period when, as he readily admits, a Munster final passed him by to a time when Clare achieved an unlikely dominance.

And now with Dublin a Leinster final against Kilkenny is the latest benchmark of considerable progress.

Daly’s infectious enthusiasm and sharp hurling brain brought Dublin to this happy pass. One only has to remember the history of Daly’s own stirring orations to know he has more ambition, however, than for any side of his to let an afternoon as whipping boys be the high point of their summer; he was pleased yesterday but his mind was moving on.

“I was in Tullamore on Saturday night and mother of Jesus. Have we any chance at all? Galway gave them everything and they still had something left. Incredible. But listen, we are into an All-Ireland quarter-final. That’s what Dublin hurling needs at the moment. We will be hurling till late July at least.”

And you knew that when the dressingroom door closed the last four words of the sentence would be hammered home far more forcibly than any flattery about Kilkenny. Late July at least. It is 18 years since Dublin last got themselves dusted down for a Leinster final. The 1991 defeat was their second on the trot and each season ended there. Yesterday Dublin bought a lease on summer and the benefits will be felt further down the line.

For now though, yesterday’s win was sufficient unto the day especially given the fraught circumstances. Dublin were without Ronan Fallon, Ross O’Carroll and Liam Ryan. And by the end they had lost Alan McCrabbe to injury and Kevin Flynn to a red card. White- knuckle time.

“You don’t ever want to be down to 14 men at any stage but to see McCrabbe go off and then Flynn . . . we fell over the line really. But listen, we have been so long getting there that we will take it whatever way it comes. We knew Wexford would come out at us strong and they did. But slowly but surely we got on top again.

“There is no pattern at the end of games. Just people getting blocks in here or a leg in there. Dotsy (David O’Callaghan) dropped his body on a ball at one stage . . . and Simmo (Simon Lambert) came up with two points. He is young. Captain of the under-21s. A lot of them are young and they are learning. Jesus, do I sound like David O’Leary!”

Wexford manager Colm Bonnar huddled with his backroom staff in the corridor as his disappointed team gathered their goods and chattels and left the building.

“Obviously we gave Dublin the initiative and that makes it hard. We let them get off to a good start and we gave away possession an awful lot. We were 11-4 down at one stage in the first half but we worked very hard to get back and we got three points just before the break and that brought us back in at half-time hoping that we could do something. It gave us heart.

“At the start of the second half we got a goal and two points and we were back level, but it took an awful lot out of us to get to that point. At this level every team is going to have periods of dominance. We pushed hard for an equaliser late on but Dublin are very fit and mobile, we nearly had a goal but they got the killer punch on the rebound down the pitch. Credit to the players, they fought to the end.

“It’s an uphill battle coming from Division Two. You look at the games the Dublin team had in the league, beating Galway, Waterford and Cork and getting good games in Thurles and in Kilkenny. They are getting a quality of hurling that we just aren’t at the moment.”

And Dublin against Kilkenny. Christians to the Lions or a Leinster hurling final?

“Kilkenny are a very seasoned but Dublin rattled them in the league. Dublin have been waiting 18 years and they will go into the final to fight. They’ve nothing to lose and maybe they will get a good crowd behind them. ”

Certainly the Leinster Council, will be hoping for a little more enthusiasm than yesterday’s attendance of 9,480 suggests.