Kildare will lose but it can be the making of them

AFTER Kildare’s nine-point demolition of Meath, it looked as though Dublin may finally have found some genuine competition for the Leinster title. However, the Dubs’ subsequent 31-point hammering of Westmeath saw that particular assertion quickly fly out the window. Kildare forward Niall Kelly admitted as much this week when he said that the Westmeath result gave the squad a ‘wakeup call’ following the high that surrounded them after the win over Meath. Having said all of that, Cian O’Neill has restructured this Kildare team, and they do seem to have a lot of the vital ingredients needed to put up a good fight. There is ball-winning ability around the middle with Tommy Moolick and particularly Kevin Feely, while Daniel Flynn has provided that extra spark up front, scoring 1-4 against Meath in their semi-final tie. While Jim Gavin seems to be trying to get his team to peak later in the summer, there is no doubt that Dublin, and Leinster football in general, need some genuine challengers for the provincial title, but looking for Kildare to cause an upset this weekend remains a huge ask — much more so than Roscommon’s fantastic Connacht final win over hot-favourites Galway. Kildare’s aim here needs to be producing a 75minute performance that they can be proud of and look to build on. If they do that — even if they don’t win — they’ll still find themselves in a good place and just one game away from an AllIreland quarter-final, and that can certainly be viewed as good progress.