All’s fair in love and war for the best enemies in town

THE equine world is focussed on the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby, which takes place at the Curragh tomorrow. But many of those in attendance will already have witnessed a thoroughbred derby of a different nature however, having gone to tonight’s battle football battle between Kildare and Laois.

There is nothing like wanting to get the better of your neighbour to encourage improvement. Like most counties, Kildare has a number of border rivalries. Around Rathangan, it is Offaly who get the heckles rising. In Kilcock, they’d happily lose to anyone but Meath. For Leixlip people, the Dubs are the ones to beat while Ballymore’s Gaels were keeping a very low profile after last year’s Leinster championship loss to Wicklow.

Tonight though, it’s all about Laois. The bickering has been going on for the past fortnight since their semi-final clash was confirmed.