Long route holds no fears now for battle-hardened Kildare

THERE was a time when Kildare’s connection with the qualifiers amounted to little more than an unfulfilling string of brief dalliances, but Tadhg Fennin remembers the moment when the relationship blossomed into a full-on love affair.

In 2008, Fennin’s ten-year stint with the county side was drawing to a close and, as the longest day of the year came and went, it seemed to be a good time to be getting out after relegation to Division Two and a disastrous championship loss to Wicklow.

No-one held out much hope of redemption in the qualifiers. Kildare had been a reluctant traveller through the back door since its inception. They won their first assignment, against Donegal in 2001, but then lost seven of nine and alternated narrow defeats by the likes of Sligo and Offaly with blowouts against Kerry and Derry.