Leinster SFC Semi-final: Keith Duggan traces Wexford's decades-long quest to find a place at the top table of Leinster football.

If Wexford beat Offaly on Sunday, they will become the county's first senior football team to reach a Leinster final in exactly 50 years. During a period when the pressure on resources and personnel has led to the deterioration in the standards of hurling and football in many dual counties, Wexford is exceptional.

Football, generally considered to be the "second" game in the county, has enjoyed a notable revival, and although Wexford hurling people now look back with concern at the fading wonderment of the Liam Griffin era, they are still challenging for provincial honours. It may seem startling that Wexford have gone 50 years without so much as an appearance at the carnival day of Leinster football. But that 1956 team - beaten by a strong Kildare outfit - were not considered fortunate just to be there.

"Around the early 1950s, football was the game here," says Séamus Keevans, who played on that team. "We had consistently strong teams then, but tended to come up against powerful counties as well. In 1949, Wexford came within two points of beating the Meath team that went on to win the All-Ireland. In 1957, we held Louth to six points at half-time and they went on to win the All-Ireland. And I remember Louth as being fiercely well-prepared - they had 14 non-drinkers and 13 non-smokers on that team, which was exceptional then, and they were training very regularly.

"We would not have been doing all that much. But over that period, we were able to field very able teams. Then came the wonderful Wexford hurling team in the middle of the 1950s with the Rackards and Nicky O'Donnell and those great games against Cork in '54 and '56. That re-established the hurling. And, as it happened, the football started to slide after that anyway."

Keevans has sampled the highways of elite Gaelic football more than most men, holding the distinction of lining out in all four provincial senior football championships. He remains involved with Wexford today, coaching the county junior team and innumerable underage teams.

He feels Wexford football never entirely disappeared and that, even in the poorest years, there were always a handful of exceptional players in the county. But the necessary combination of talent and effort and opportunity were never correctly harvested - if Wexford happened to have a strong and motivated team, it just so happened there was a neighbouring county that happened to have a richer pick.

"Thinking back to the great Offaly team under Eugene McGee that won three Leinster titles and an All-Ireland, which was a ferocious feat, Wexford actually beat Offaly in 1977. What Eugene did then was put in tremendous work with an under-21 team that came through and the squad was very closely knit, with the Connors and the Fitzgeralds, and they got their rewards. But there was a decent football team around Wexford in the 1970s - and I know Eugene rated Mick Carty, who was under him at UCD, very highly.

"Of course, Wexford hurling was also very strong around 1976-77 and, even though there was never tension there, there were some good football players who had dedicated themselves to hurling."

Keevans played on a strong schools team with St Peter's in the early 1950s. In the 1990s, the performance of St Peter's and, in 1999, the historic All-Ireland achievement by Good Counsel of New Ross, were the first signs of a new, concerted football drive in the county.

"There had been some tremendous work done at schools level and you could definitely see the effect of that," says Dom Twomey, who managed the 2002/03 Wexford team, which gained promotion to Division One of the National League. Twomey was convinced the post was worth taking after watching Wexford play Dublin in the previous year's championship in Carlow.

"My immediate impression was the football was very well organised in the county," he remembers. "Clubs had a lot of games, the structure was sub-divided very well. And Ger Halligan had done some terrific work with the squad I inherited. The downside was Wexford people did not seem all that aware of the efforts that players were putting in. The day we beat Carlow by a point to gain promotion to Division One, I remember being struck by how small the crowd was.

"Now, those that were there were delighted, but it was this small band and, in the greater scheme, it was almost like a non-event. But Pat Roe came in and he established Wexford as a Division One team and the support base has grown impressively.

"Maybe hurling has dropped a little bit and football has risen to the point where they work in tandem now. I think the turning point for Wexford, though, was the day that Matty Forde hit the 4-3 against Galway in Tuam in the league. Matty's potential had been obvious since he was 17 years of age, but to do that against one of the best-established football counties gave Wexford a credibility factor they had been lacking."

They have made several other significant statements since then, enjoying great days against Armagh and Tyrone in the league. Forde has joined the ranks of Carty, Martin Quigley, Séamus Fitzhenry, George O'Connor and John O'Gorman as being among the finest Wexford football players Séamus Keevans has watched.

"It was a godsend that he should have come along at this point," he says.

But the crucial breakthrough in the championship has not come. In 2004, they were overshadowed by the unstoppable surge of energy Páidí Ó Sé released in Westmeath, and last year they played with composure and bravery against Paul Caffrey's rehabilitated Dublin team and lost.

This Sunday will be their third time knocking on the door. Paul Bealin has understandably tried to put distance between his team and the notion of facing Dublin in what would be a fascinating Leinster final. But already, the former Blues midfielder has lengthened the list of what has been an impressive succession of football appointments by Wexford, with Ger Halligan, Twomey and Pat Roe all leaving the team better than when they found it.

Bealin's team's performance against Meath, with Forde recording 0-9 from play, was another significant step - a polished victory against one of the giants of the game in Leinster.

"Paul was a surprise appointment in the eyes of many people," says Twomey. "But he had a clear idea about what he wanted and he changed the emphasis from league to championship. I was disappointed to see the county relegated, but maybe Wexford had done enough in the league. And the way the team played against Meath was hugely encouraging.

"Funny, I had in the back of my mind from early on that Offaly would be the surprise in this year's championship, but Wexford's form at the moment makes this game very hard to call."

Twomey remembers being astonished to learn, a few years back, that a number of Wexford players had booked holidays for a few weeks after they were due to play Dublin in a championship game. As it happened, they lost, but they performed creditably.

"But it just reflected a certain lack of faith in themselves, a resignation that things had to work to a certain order. During my time there, the fellas were hugely enjoyable to work with and very willing, but, deep down, there might have been the lack of real belief.

"I think that has come with time and after pushing in the last two Leinster semi-finals, it is probably time for Wexford to breach that gap, although it is a hell of a big task.

"Obviously, Wexford have an exceptional player in Forde, but the likes of Diarmuid Kinsella, Nickey Lambert, John Hudson, Redmond Barry, Niall Murphy, guys like that I would have worked with, are all seriously good football players. There is a lot of ability in the county and I think that is generally recognised now."

Of course, Séamus Keevans's observation still holds true. Now that Wexford are strong and motivated, there are plenty of equally strong teams standing in their way. Offaly are tough and formidable and able.

This is the first Leinster championship meeting between the counties since 1994, although Wexford did come out trumps in a qualifying match just two summers ago. But both teams prepare for this weekend with a formidable self-belief.

"In general, I would be pleased with the state of football in the county," says Keevans. "But there is no doubt that pushing on now and getting to the Leinster final would give us a lift. We have been pushing hard and played some great football and I suppose it would be a reward. But there are no guarantees."

Fifty years have shown that much to the guardians of Wexford football. Still, a win tomorrow would be an appropriate way to mark the anniversary.