He watched it vanish in the mild sunlight, their scarce-spoken dream just floating from reach with an inevitability which was almost gentle. A few key images remain - Michael Donnellan's torching run downfield, Ja Fallon's hoofed point from the sideline, that jubilant air punch from Niall Finnegan which seemed to signal the end of the contest.

Cathal Sheridan sat and watched the energy drained from those faces he had come to know over the summer and afterwards, like the rest of the bit-part players, he retreated into the shadows beneath the Cusack stand and listened to Mick O'Dwyer's soft lilt as he told Kildare they had been beaten by a better team and how there was no shame in that. That was his All-Ireland final day.

"It's hard being on the bench at the best of times anyway, not that I ever expected anything else at the time. I just couldn't believe how well Galway began playing after the break. Couldn't see it at half-time. They just began playing out of their skins in that first 10 or 15 minutes and I sat there feeling more uneasy. It became clear we weren't going to come back at them," he says.

Sheridan is Kildare's latest import, a Meath lad resident in Kilcock. Open to jibes, and carefree about the prospect.

"Within the team, it doesn't matter at all. We are all of us living and working within the county, it doesn't matter. I have played club football with Kilcock for the past three years. You might get the odd remark from a lad you'd play against but I just laugh it off."

He was reared in Kiltale, a tiny hurling enclave in the heart of football country. He knew a hurley before he'd ever even considered football and his interest grew only after his father drove him over to under-age training in Moyvalley along with his brothers, Barry and Mark.

He won an All-Ireland minor medal at the beginning of the decade before moving on to the under-21 scene. But like so many others, he faltered before the next step and although he has seen league action under Sean Boylan, the old sage never really seemed to envisage him as a consistent option in the Meath attack. The phone calls dried up and then out of the blue, Mick O'Dwyer's team gave him a shout.

"Naturally, the issue of loyalty came up, having played for Meath. But I was well out of the picture there and for me, it was simply a question of taking the opportunity to play at this level or not. I didn't really mull over it."

So he found himself sweating and sitting and laughing his way through last summer's lilywhite carousel, half amused to find himself in boots on Leinster final Sundays and on through to that September Sunday. Saw a quarter of an hour against Laois but it was about a learning curve. Only when the league came did his chance arrive and the new arrival drilled 1-5 in his first game, against Down.

He has been there since, emerging as Kildare's top scorer, hitting fallow patches only against Monaghan and being one of the few Kildare attackers to emerge with any credit against - who else? - Meath when Kildare managed only five points. In fact, despite winning consistently, Kildare have posted some remarkably low scores. Is that something that gnaws at them?

"No, I mean it's definitely true that we have been poor in the last two games. I don't know why that is, obviously we'd need to pick it up tomorrow or the league will be ending quickly for us. But it isn't an issue. We have hit a few good scores and have been doing enough to win. The scores will come."

Rangy and economical in open play, Sheridan had also impressed from dead-ball situations, employing his skills from the left side of the pitch with pleasing consistency.

"Yeah, I have been kicking when Pauric Graven isn't there. When he's on the field, the kicks are his, he really is a wonderful free-taker. It's something I'm happy to do though. I've been kicking frees for as long as I can remember, don't have a clue as to how it came about. I suppose I enjoy it, I like the pressure kicks and am happy to put in the extra practice it requires."

And what of this Kildare team's psyche? For years, they felt that the country half sniggered, half sympathised with their apparent delicacy, this unfortunate paralysis when it came to closing out big games. Last year they spat it back in our faces and still came up one short. Tomorrow, they are back in Croke Park for the first time since Galway beat them.

"The place won't be an issue. We've had plenty of good days in Croke Park as well. And Kildare teams are well used to the ground, it's like their second home. We are really looking forward to this. Games against Dublin, whatever the quality, have always generated a lot of public interest and I expect this to be close tomorrow." It's been a weird nine months. At 26, Sheridan was out to prove nothing to no-one except himself. The Meath thing is irrelevant to him, he doesn't even have time to consider it. Sure, he sat in the Hogan on those days when Lyons and Hayes and Stafford were kings and of course he toyed with the thrilling notion of following them. Just didn't happen. Now, life is his baby girl, working tours with his unit at Leixlip Garda station, circling pitches, trying to squeeze a bit of rest in.

"Yeah, its busy, especially with the shift work when it can be hard to get time to train. But it's a chance, you know. I'm glad to have been given it."