THE midfielders line up at the start of the All-Ireland hurling final. Limerick's Sean O'Neill, ferocious and strong but a bit coltish for this sort of thing, gives George O'Connor a couple of reminders that he's there. George fails to respond - at first.

At the end of his 17-year career, the Wexford veteran doesn't seem the obvious candidate for a successful attempt at softening-up. Not at the start of what is likely to be his only All-Ireland final.

In the time it takes referee Pat Horan to glance down at his stopwatch and throw in the ball, the response comes. O'Neill collapses before getting up and dusting down his dignity as the match roars into life.

The small cameo lasts only seconds but into those seconds, through some fourth-dimensional chasm, are squeezed 17 years of inter-county hurling. George O'Connor had all of those seasons, from sunny championships through wind and rain-swept challenges, to observe the length of time it takes a referee to glance at his watch.

The final was a microcosm of Wexford's summer. Adversity, the genius of manager Liam Griffin's attention to detail, tactical acumen and mind games all conjoined as Wexford took their first All-Ireland in 28 years despite having Eamonn Seallan dismissed in the 33rd minute.

Having spent two and a half hours rehearsing what to do in the event of anyone being sent off, Wexford were mentally prepared. "Imagine," Griffin had told them, "Liam Dunne gets the line after five minutes. Imagine Storey gets the line after five minutes. What do we do? Now imagine Liam Dunne and Martin Storey crash into each other and have to be taken off. Do we give up?"

It was another glorious championship. Maybe Wexford's joy was more striking than Clare's a year previously. After all, for over 20 years they had been a power in the land before decline eroded their standing. Regaining that status after all those years is slightly different to experiencing it for the first time.

As Griffin said: "Hunger? We invented the stuff".

They participated in a blazing Leinster final which was probably the match of the year. It ended in an avalanche of points, six shared equally between Martin Storey and Tom Dempsey, as Offaly, apparently indestructible with John Troy rampant in the semifinal against Laois, folded by eight points.

Limerick have now moved to the top of the deserving queue. The misery of a second All-Ireland defeat in three years was accentuated by the team's heroic campaign in Munster. It started with the inflicting on Cork of a first home championship defeat since the 1920s - by a whacking 16 points.

The team's resurgent qualities captivated the world of hurling. All-Ireland champions Clare - having dominated the match and led into injury-time - were caught and then beaten on a crackling atmospheric afternoon in the Gaelic Grounds. The winning point was the score of the year with Ciaran Carey fielding the puck-out and weaving his way on a 50-metre solo before settling the match.

Tipperary were next up in the Munster final and blew a 10-point half-time lead. The grandeur of their first-half performance has been largely forgotten but it was sustained and unerring.

THEREAFTER Limerick were in control and chased down the deficit remorselessly.

Remarkably, Tipp pulled away again before the end but a fatal outbreak of foostering in their defence allowed Frankie Carroll snap up a coolly taken equaliser from wide on the left.

The replay slipped away from Tipperary as a blizzard of early wides gave way to an even deadlier inclination to leak goals.

Limerick's prolific scoring was achieved in the effective absence of main marksman Gary Kirby who was out-of-sorts after a week spent having his head scanned for a fracture.

The All-Ireland final ended less happily for Kirby as a broken finger, sustained in the opening minutes, curtailed his productivity although the exceptional discipline of Wexford's backs in not conceding a scoreable free contributed.

In Ulster, Ant rim survived a late charge from champions Drown to earn the right to take on Limerick in the All-Ireland semi-final where they gave a reasonable account of themselves before losing by seven points.

Galway's prospects had looked promising earlier in the year. An impressive march through the National League ended in triumph in the Gaelic Grounds where the Connacht team came late to burn off the challenge of Tipperary.

Manager Matt Murphy made some inadvisable - whatever about sincerely held - observations about it taking a good side to beat Galway and that such a team "isn't out there". Actually, it was.

In other matters, the early year saw radical changes to this season's League and championship approved by both Congress and Central Council for an experimental two-year period.

Sixmilebridge thrashed five goals past both Sarsfields of Galway and Antrim's Dunloy to win the All-Ireland club title. Munster ran away with the Railway Cup against a wretched Leinster in Ennis.