Improving Kildare lay down a marker

GROWING confidence and a relaxed attitude have been the two key ingredients to Kildare’s progression to the quarter-finals of the All-Ireland championship.

This is Kildare’s third season in a row reaching the top eight and it confirms their tremendous progress under Kieran McGeeney since his arrival in the Short Grass for the 2008 campaign. Indeed they are the only team still left standing from the first round of the qualifiers.

Earmarked as likely contenders for silverware at the start of the year on the back of some brilliant displays last summer, the Lilywhites struggled for the opening six months of this term, due largely to a horrendous catalogue of injuries.