DEBATE SEEMS to rage around this county. Football lovers believe a modicum of recent success makes us a football county at present. Hurling lovers point to 1996 and several decades of moderately successful teams as to why we are a hurling county. Right now, as also-rans in both, there is a strong argument that we are neither.

Over 30,000 people will pack Croke Park on Sunday for the Gala All-Ireland Senior camogie championship final, the largest crowd any Wexford team would have seen all year. They will watch the best this county has to offer face Galway. But the barometer of what the county stands for is not only with people voting with their feet, it's in recent success.

Back-to-back league doubles are great achievements. A second All-Ireland in four years is something that can't be matched by any Wexford side in over half a century. Right now, Wexford is a camogie county and it's something all 130-odd thousand of us should be immensely proud of.

Standing in the way of our county side will be the girls from Galway. They're a team Wexford know only too well. Late goals have been a feature of recent heartache against the Tribeswomen, a late strike prevented back-toback final appearances in 2008 while June's meeting in Athenry was also stolen away from the Slaney women at the death.

What it shows is their never-say-die attitude. They have players all over the field that can cause problems. They have arguably the best free-taker and top goalkeeper in the country. They don't have weak links and can even afford to have talented forward Jessica Gill propped up on a stool on the sideline. J.J Doyle and his charges have to expect an almighty battle.

And they will, because like Galway there are no weaknesses in this team. Mags D'Arcy may be underworked but has made vital stops when called upon, and if the Wexford defence live up to form her biggest test will be to keep her concentration throughout.

The full-back line is summed up by the fact that Wexford have conceded fewer scores this championship season than any other team. Catherine O'Loughlin may well have had a couple of shaky moments here and there, but when push came to shove in the semi-final she completely stopped Katie Power from playing, and she can do the same to Veronica Curtin.

In the corners, Karen Atkinson has been a revelation and her presence has strengthened the side from last year, while Claire O'Connor is an All Star that's missing her trophy.

Mary Leacy is probably the front-runner to succeed Ann Dalton as player of the year and the way that those sweeping diagonal balls, left and right, now look like a natural reaction every time she gains possession is a testament to her work throughout the year.

Experience and know-how make Aoife O'Connor a natural shutter at wing-back, while on the opposite side Noeleen Lambert has played at a consistently high level throughout the year without a single dip.

Three into two doesn't go in midfield, so something has to give. Deirdre Codd looks at home in the centre and Josie Dwyer carried Ann Dalton around in her pocket for most of the semi-final. Caroline Murphy is pushing for a recall, and with someone so talented it could prove too difficult a decision to leave her out.

At centre-forward, Una Leacy needs to keep the recent form up to help the wings flourish. To her left, Michelle O'Leary will never stop working, a commodity that is hard to quantify for this Wexford side, while to her right, if Kate Kelly plays like she has of late, Galway will have a torrid afternoon.

Her partnership with gifted right corner-forward Katrina Parrock blossomed in the semi-final and will take some watching again, while Ursula Jacob is championship top scorer and is almost impossible to stop with ball in hand.

Fiona Kavanagh at left-corner has struggled to make an impact recently and her place must be under threat, but Lenny Holohan's recent honeymoon has seen her miss a lot of the preparations. Bríd Gordon has offered plenty from the bench and may well see action on Sunday, while Evelyn Quigley and Ciara Storey are others who may play a part.

It will be tough, it will be physical, and it will likely be tight. These are the two best teams in the country, no doubt about that. But come Sunday Wexford will prove they are better, they will prove that they are number one. They will prove that Wexford is a camogie county.

- DEAN GOODISON Sports reporter