Kenny put out that he's put out

Leinster SFC Wicklow v Kildare: Wicklow manager Hugh Kenny read a Kildare newspaper during the week and it was like a ready-made gift from the football gods. It was a better motivational tool than any rousing speech he could have made because it said his players were not at the races. That was his interpretation anyway.

"I picked up a Kildare paper during the week. I don't know if the reporter is here, from the Kildare Nationalist, but what he thinks of Wicklow football he should go home and bury his head now because Wicklow were the best team out there today.

"I'm bitterly disappointed. A lot of people think Wicklow football is a joke. These 24 footballers are no joke. We came here fully convinced that we'd win this match. Not by one or two points but by at least three or four. That's the belief we had in this team and the team played like that."

While everyone gazed elsewhere in recent months, Wicklow were building for yesterday. It almost worked out but Kenny was adamant they can take this performance and bring it forward on the dusty qualifier route. He even brought up Fermanagh's merry run to the All-Ireland semi-final last year.

"It's no joke. We have prepared as well as any county in Ireland and we have set our standards very high. The performance out there was of the very highest calibre. The movement and fitness and everything was excellent."

The reliance on the Rathnew club has been flung aside as Kenny builds a young, vibrant team that he intends to develop further over the coming years.

"The goal (from Tadhg Fennin) was sickening, even though we were still in the lead. We then got back level again and they just got in for the two points. Having said that we missed two goal opportunities. We had loads of chances but you have to take heart by a performance like that."

Pádraig Nolan came out of the RTÉ interview and practically shouted, "Phew! Close one, lads." But when asked whether there was a crisis in Kildare football he was able to keep a grip on reality.

"It's only football, no need to panic. Wicklow missed chances. We missed chances. You go into a game like this and you actually open it up early on, you are into a dogfight. That's what it was and hopefully it will stand to us in the future. As I said to the Wicklow boys in there, we were blessed to get out of there today." Did you take them for granted?

"There was no complacency or anything like that. We prepared the same way as if we were playing against anybody. It was always going to be one of these type of games. You go back over Wicklow Kildare matches, there hasn't been that many but they have either been a huge win for Kildare or Wicklow have nailed us to the cross. We were lucky to get out."

In fairness, there were mitigating factors in the stuttering performance, particularly in defence, as Nolan explained.

"You got to remember, we had to make five changes coming in today because of injuries and three of them in defence. In fairness, the lads that went in worked hard."

So, no upset; just a few doses of reality and another new team to write off at your peril.