Carlow football manager Turlough O'Brien says their victory over Kildare did not come as a surprise to their own camp.
They're looking forward to a Leinster semi-final against Laois next month following their 2-14 to 1-10 win over the Lilywhites last Sunday.
O'Brien says the signs of their ability were evident in the games against Dublin and Monaghan last year.
"It was felt we would take a scalp and Monaghan were lucky to get out of Dr Cullen Park last year so we had no reason to fear Kildare and we felt (that) we had a lot of confidence in our own ability," he said.
"Our team is quite experienced but it is also sprinkled with some very talented footballers - I don't think we get credit for that at all
"Everyone talks about it being a shock - a Division 4 team playing a Division 1 team but when you look at the quality of players we have the shock is we were in Division 4 for so long"