Kildare trying to recapture the glory days

Leo Turley’s memories of the 1997 Leinster quarter-final between Laois and Kildare are hazy but he remembers well the 70 minutes of skirmishing between himself and Davy Dalton at one end of Croke Park and the 30 seconds of madness at the other.

Only nine minutes had passed when Westmeath referee Pat Casserley sent two of Kildare’s key forwards, Johnny McDonald and Martin Lynch, to the stands for separate off-the-ball incidents. “Right, we have these boys now,” the Laois forward thought at the time.

You couldn’t blame him. Accounts as to what actually prompted the red mists and cards vary. “The sendings off were lousy,” Kildare midfielder Willie McCreery says. With 13 men, Kildare looked goosed.