"You weren't expecting that, were yiz?" Alan Smith said to those gathered outside the Kildare changing room on Saturday night. Not many saw it coming as it was widely presumed Cork would be able to repeat the level of performance that almost saw them defeat Kerry in Killarney on July 5th.
“It isn’t a huge surprise [to be playing Kildare], because we knew it was one of the permutations that could come out of the game,” said Kerry manager Éamonn Fitzmaurice.
“Cork were flat, and Kildare were coming into the game with momentum, and we will have to be careful with that next weekend. Kildare played with fierce vibrancy and confidence.”
So Kildare, in Jason Ryan’s third year coaching them, sensed the opportunity, having personal experience of how drained losing provincial finalists can be heading into the qualifiers. “The turnaround after the provincial finals, we were there ourselves a couple of years ago [2009],” said Smith.
“It’s hard to get up for it. It looked like they put everything into the Kerry game, especially the first day. They probably should have won it. The second day, conditions were tough and it is a quick turnaround.”
Kildare had time to recover from the 19-point thrashing by Dublin on June 28th to beat Offaly and then Longford in the qualifiers and build on the earlier replay victory over Laois.
“Since the Dublin game we’ve been going very well. Probably nothing is being said about us but we know we’ve been ticking away nicely.
“A good win against Offaly – it was all about getting over the line after the Dublin game. If we needed to compete [against Cork], we needed to put in a good performance against Longford and we did that.
No forwards
“We racked up a big score for a team that apparently has no forwards. Again we racked up 1-21 against a very good Cork side.”
Every forward scored from play besides Eoghan O'Flaherty, who kicked 0-5 from placed balls, and Eamonn Callaghan, who went off injured.
Callaghan’s replacement Pádraig Fogarty arrived to kick 0-3.
But will there be anything different in Kildare’s preparation for Kerry than there was for Dublin?
“They’re probably the same,” Smith replied. “They’re All-Ireland champions. You don’t have to say much about Kerry. They’re All-Ireland champions for a reason. We’re gonna be massive underdogs again like we were [against Cork]. It’s going to be a tough game but we’ll take a lot of confidence. We’re after winning our last three games.
“This is a massive win for us. I’ve been on the panel since 2008 and we fell short against big teams every single year. It’s my eighth attempt to beat a big team, it’s taken eight years so we’ll take massive confidence out of this. We’ve nothing to fear next week.”
Fitzmaurice sounded a cautionary note ahead of Sunday's return to Croke Park for the first time since last year's All-Ireland final, while also sparing a thought for Brian Cuthbert.
Tough business
“Of course, from Brian Cuthbert’s point of view, it’s a tough situation. He and his management team I’m sure are putting absolutely everything into it, no more than we do.
“And when the results aren’t going your way then, it’s a tough business – there’s no doubt about it.
“The one thing about being a player, there’s strength in numbers when you’re a player; when you’re the manager, you are out there on your own. Of course, from a human point of view that’s not a very nice place to be.”
