Every manager wants to start the championship with the right blend of youth and experience. And with Glenn Ryan and Anthony Rainbow in the Kildare team for Sunday's Leinster championship meeting with Wicklow, Pádraig Nolan can probably feel more certain than anyone that he's got experience covered.

Between them Ryan and Rainbow have amassed a frightening 27 years of experience playing senior football for Kildare. Ryan first made his presence felt in Kildare as a minor in 1989 and made his senior championship debut in 1991.

Rainbow joined up with the senior panel a year later.

Together they've collected two Leinster titles while also being on the losing end of the 1998 All-Ireland final against Galway.

They're also the only two survivors of that team to be playing in Croke Park on Sunday. They've both lost count of the number of games they've played there since 1991, but it would be a little more worrying if the lapse in memory had something to do with old age.

The popular misconception is that both Ryan and Rainbow must be well past it. Yet Ryan doesn't turn 33 until next October, and Rainbow, surprisingly, is actually a few months older.

Those who saw Kildare at any stage during the league would have quickly realised that Ryan has lost none of his ability to ambush possession from centre back and turn a game in his side's favour. Rainbow has been operating at corner back as distinct from wing back, but he too has retained his turn of pace and his eye for sneaking over a point.

The Kildare manager can only smile when asked about their enduring contribution to the county's championship fortunes.

"They've both been simply tremendous servants to Kildare football over the years," says Nolan, "and I'm just privileged to have two players like that in my squad. As far as I'm concerned they've done it all. They've played in Leinster finals and All-Ireland finals and represented Ireland.

"And they are just great leaders on the field. They're winners first of all, and also just fierce determined men. They've come back again this year with an incredible eagerness. They're actually like young chaps when it comes to the training. And of course they bring a huge amount of experience to the team."

Nolan can only smile again at the suggestion they might somehow be picked on sentiment rather than form: "They are both there on merit, 100 per cent. Anybody that followed Kildare closely during the league matches would have seen that.

"I mean over the last three years I have moved Glenn Ryan around a little, and played him at centre forward, and played him wing back. But there's no doubt about it, centre back is his best position. For me he's been the greatest centre back that ever played for Kildare. And one of the greatest centre backs I've seen in football right throughout the years.

"And the same with Anthony. He's been one of the best wing backs over the past 10 years - and is now playing very well in the corner."

Part of their longevity could be accounted for by their own self-discipline. But Ryan has also been forced to sit out periods through injury, and that's kept the mileage on his body clock relatively low. And like Rainbow there's no reason to believe his best years are that far behind him.

Nolan, however, has never once needed to coax them into another year of hard training.

"No, I believe that's just up to the players really, because it is an individual thing. And in both Glenn's and Anthony's case they still have this huge hunger to train, and do everything the younger lads are doing, and do give it their all.

"But they also embrace the responsibility of being the experienced players. They've been exceptional like that, and have been doing it for a while now.

"And that can only augur well for the future, that the younger lads are playing alongside experienced players like that, and seeing their leadership qualities in the dressing room."

Sunday's game will be Kildare's first championship meeting with Wicklow since 1993, when they survived an uneasy start to win by two points.

Nolan knows his team will start as favourites, but he also knows it's only the first step into the great unknown of the Leinster championship.

"There's no way we're looking beyond Sunday. A local derby like this will always be tough. And I know it will feel like the championship.

"This is where is all starts. When you get back into Croke Park in May you know you're in the real thing."