Hill 16-Diary of a Dub. Dublin 2-15 V Kildare 0-18

This years Leinster Final have a different feeling to it.As I walked down the Whithworth Road I felt nervous. Kildare had impressed throughout the Leinster Championship and had in Dermot Earley a midfielder that was really going to test the Magee/McConnell partnership. The moment I took my place on the Hill I could feel it. The atmosphere was turned a number of notches from our previous games. A large Kildare support was contributing to this.

Three minutes in The Hill was in full voice. The Kildare defence was ripped apart and we had already put 1-03 on the scoreboard. Maybe this Kildare team had flattered to deceive or maybe the occasion had got to some of the younger players on their team. To Kildare's credit they came roaring back. Smith & Kavanagh who both impressed earlier in the championship knocked over scores. Then disaster happened, 18 minutes into the game Ger Brennan got a red card.I had seen this coming he should of been red carded in the first game against Meath and the punch he threw was as obvious as they come. Kildare dominated for the remainder of the first half only for Jayo to come to the rescue. His expertly taken goal not only revived memories of a young Jayo terrorising defences 14 years previously it halted Dublins rapid decline.


At half time it looked like the game was going away from us. We talked on the Hill about who we would get in the qualifiers. Surely Dublin could not win this game with 14 men against a really good Kildare team. The Dublin team that emerged in the second half gave me hope for the rest of the championship given the magnitude of their performance.It was a epic and biblical performance. Bryan Cullen and Ciaran Whelan were immense and Bernard Brogan showed his class and laid down a marker as one of the best forwards in the country. This was the game Dublin needed to bring them on. A tough Leinster Final against a really gooS kildare team. Three games away from Sam.