Callaghan the pride of Kildare

Corner forward Eamonn Callaghan is the pride of Kildare at the moment, as the Lilywhites gear up for their first All-Ireland semi-final since 2000.

The Naas clubman this week became the first Kildare player since Dermot Earley (May 2009) to pick up a GAA Vodafone Footballer of the Month award, and while the county's supporters are on a crest of a wave at the moment, the 27-year-old is keeping his feet on the ground after last week's win over Leinster champions Meath.

An untimely injury to midfielder Earley in last Sunday's All-Ireland quarter-final threatened to derail Kildare's run through to the last-four, but the introduction of Hugh Lynch put the Lilywhites back on track.

Callaghan believes that his side will be able to cope should Earley not make it back for the semi-final against Down on August 29.

"Dermot is huge for us on and off the pitch, but the thing is in Kildare we have a very strong squad. Hughie Lynch came on and did very well," he said.

"Obviously he (Dermot) would be a huge loss for us and hopefully he will be back, but we are fairly confident we do have lads to come in to fill the gap if needed."

And the Lucan-based Garda believes that Kildare's mental strength has improved this year, helped by the leadership roles played by Kieran McGeeney and his management team.

"Kieran (McGeeney) is a great manager and he has brought a lot of things to Kildare football but I think our mental strength has definitely improved - especially in the last couple of games when we conceded early starts we got ourselves back into games. We never panicked.

"That's one of the main things we had in the All-Ireland qualifiers, we showed great composure at vital times in games."

While things are all positive for Callaghan and his Kildare colleagues at the moment, having registered their sixth victory in the Championship last weekend, he explained that his own personal journey has had many twists and turns.

"Sometimes I thought I might never play for Kildare again," he said. "I worked very hard this year to get back into the team."

Hip and groin injuries had threatened to sideline him from inter-county action.

"It was a pretty serious injury and I was wondering whether I'd get back at all.

"Thankfully, with the lads we have, the two physios and Julie (Davis), who does a lot of rehab work with us, I got back into good shape again."

Callaghan avoided the need for an operation, and since then has not looked back - not missing a training session since returning to the fold.

A Footballer of the Month award is nice, but Callaghan knows personal accolades will count for little unless the Sam Maguire Cup is in the hands of a Kildare man next month for the first time since 1928.

"It's great to receive the award, but to be honest I would be happy for any Kildare man to be receiving the award.

"Hopefully there will be another Kildare player back here in September, and that we might have Sam Maguire in our hands at that stage also."