Emmet Moloney writes for the 'Farmers Journal' and is a former sports columnist with 'The Kerryman'.

Everything is in place. The stars are lined up. The team looks composed. The management look completely unruffled. Is it time for us to win the Big One, asks Emmet Moloney...

We had better get the anticlimactic scenario out of the way first. Ireland could lose this game. Wales are a formidable side, and still marginally the stronger team. If you discount the combative but lightweight Scotland and Italy, all the powerhouses have won their home matches in this year’s Six Nations. If that pattern follows suit, then Ireland will win the championship but lose on Saturday. By virtue of having England and France at home, we should win the title on points difference. And there ends the dream. As a betting man, the head says this is how it will unfold.

Then the heart takes over, and starts making some very reasonable conclusions. Declan Kidney is the first into the mix. He lost two Heineken Cup finals while at the helm in Munster, and these made the first victory in 2006 all the sweeter – and all the more pressured.

Cast your mind back to 2006 and remember how Munster overcame the emotion and hype to perform as clinically as they did on that day. The mental baggage of previous defeats was dealt with positively. Munster embraced all that was good about the build-up, and came back again two years later to do the very same thing.

Declan Kidney was the driving force behind those two magical campaigns – for that is what they were: campaigns. And so is this. The past six or seven weeks have all been building up to this weekend.

We were brilliant against France, hot and cold against Italy and totally workmanlike against England. But last Saturday against Scotland had the stamp of Deccy all over it, and this is why I think we can and should beat Wales. Murrayfield was a game that in previous years would not have been turned around. Not in the way we did it. Ireland played controlled rugby and stuck to the gameplan, only altered at half time, to the letter.

Declan Kidney had a number of years to hone his rugby brain with Munster, Leinster and then Ireland. His apprenticeship served, he returned to his home province in 2005 and Munster profited with two Heineken Cups. Quiet, unassuming and never a man to inject himself into the story, his manner suits teams that already have leaders in their midst. His talent seems to be the nurturing of those leaders. Anthony Foley and Paul O’Connell are perfect examples. On his watch, they have become legends for Munster and O’Connell could repeat the dose with Ireland. Brian O’Driscoll is also completely rejuvenated. Our coach deflects all the credit and attention that should come his way by sheperding it towards the leaders and his team. Clive Woodward, Warren Gatland or Eddie O’Sullivan he is not. Kidney is not the face of the team, but he is the brains.

Brains will beat Wales on Saturday. It’s the last international game of the season before the Lions squad is selected, and Wales are under the impression that they should form the bulk of the team that will fly to South Africa. This is what the game is about for them.

Wales are the Cork of international rugby. They have a healthy arrogance to their play and to their position in world rugby. They think they are the best team in the Six Nations, and their world ranking suggests that they are. But they have to beat us to rubber-stamp that. They will come at us and look to beat us playing the free-flowing, off-loading rugby that means a victory with style. One that ends all arguments. Expansive rugby to thrill their home crowd. The world’s best winger, Shane Williams, will be the centrepiece in their plans, and Kidney will be lecturing his men on not conceding an early score. But we will.

Wales tend to fire their big guns early, and between Lee Byrne and Williams, they will probably prize us open. In previous years, we would buckle in this situation, but here I have confidence. The Munster way is to take the sting from home teams, and Ireland are adopting the same control to their game. The lack of panic in Scotland bodes well for Saturday. We’re going to have ten or fifteen minutes when we are in trouble, and it’s how we weather that storm that will decide the fate of our Grand Slam. (Yes, I’ve written 700 words before the first mention of the Grand Slam. Most articles on the game this week will lead with those words.) But that won’t bother Ireland in the slightest. This is a one-off. A “cup final”, as it was described by Ronan O’Gara in the immediate aftermath of the Scottish win. That’s the Kidney influence. We will concede a try, but that’s not going to be the fatal blow. No, if that blow is to be administered, it will come after that try.

Brian O’Driscoll has been a revelation this spring, and he is a born on-the-field leader. He leads by example. So too does O’Connell. Ronan O’Gara has been slightly erratic this championship. He needs a huge game. We know it is in him. But these three men will not be enough. We’ll need more heroes than them. There are plenty of likely candidates – men like Tommy Bowe. Much was made of O’Driscoll’s late tackle on Danielli against Scotland, but most of the credit was due to the Ulster man. It was Bowe who held up the attack with the crucial tackle. It is moments like those that win matches and decide seasons.

Team sports are littered with the unsung hero. Those that arrive on the big stage and make the difference on the special day. Saturday is special. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it was John Hayes that made the last surge for the line, and got over for the winning try? Or maybe if the Bull intercepted a try-scoring pass and ran the length of the field to score that crucial five-pointer!

There are few certainties about this match. But here are two. Ireland have never been more ready, and the unsung will sing.
To catch Emmet's latest column, get 'The Farmers' Journal' every Thursday...