Davy Fitzgerald’s Wexford - it’s now almost compulsory to call them that - took the scalp of Kilkenny last time out.
Now we’ll see if can they back that up by taking down the other half of hurling’s Big Two in Sunday’s League semi-final.
What: Tipperary v Wexford, Allianz Hurling League Division 1 semi-final
Where: Nowlan Park
When: Sunday, 4.0pm
The bounce the Yellow Bellies have experienced under Davy Fitz is nothing short of remarkable.
After years struggling around the fringes of the Division 1B promotion race, they jumped straight up in the Clare man’s first season in charge and then they took a further dramatic step when they beat the Cats at the quarter-final stage at the start of the month.
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It was Wexford’s first win over a Brian Cody managed team since 2004 and the first time they had got one over Kilkenny in Nowlan Park since the fifties. The fact that they are back there again this weekend should offer some comfort as a result.
With a largely young squad, they are playing an energetic style of hurling and though the manager continues to preach caution their fans are starting to get behind the team and are allowing themselves to dream of big days ahead.
Before 2015, no team from Division 1B had won a League title, but Waterford broke that duck and a little less than 12 months ago Fitzgerald brought Clare to the crown from the second tier.
They way they are playing, a repeat would be no surprise, though this weekend they will face the biggest test of their resurgence.
Tipp are All-Ireland champions, having swatted Kilkenny aside in the second half of last year’s final thanks largely to their razor sharp inside-forward line.
The Premier County cruised through the regular season stage of Division 1A, winning their first three games to assure their place in the knock-out rounds.
They then drew a bruising rematch with the Cats before losing to Cork in what for them was a dead rubber game.
Manager Michael Ryan has been mixing and matching his team to date, giving the stars of last year’s Liam MacCarthy win a run here and easing promising youngsters into the side there.
The way they were dealing with opponents at the start of the year was reminiscent of what Cody’s outfits did in their prime; they were giving no-one any hope or chinks of light for later in the campaign as they racked up big wins.
With Wexford on the rise, Tipp will be keen to keep them down so expect Ryan to put out a strong starting 15.
But Fitzgerald, an All-Ireland winner as a player and manager with the Banner County, has a track record of breaking the monopoly of the game’s traditional powers.
That’s just one of the reasons why this game promises to be so interesting.
You can listen to commentary on this weekend’s games live on RTÉ Radio 1’s Sunday Sport, follow the matches on our live blog online and catch full highlights on RTÉ2 Television’s League Sunday.
