I’VE WORKED a lot of jobs I hated but rarely will a week ever go slower than this one.
In these crawling days everything except Kildare versus Down is insignificant and dull. In all but two years of my life Kildare have been outsiders looking in at this stage of the season.
Watching Dublin and Cork yesterday brought it home – in a few days we will watch Kildare play probably one of the five biggest games I’ve ever seen them play in my lifetime.
Despite a surprising lack of hype around the county, it is exciting beyond description. And even more nail-biting because I find it difficult to see us losing.
Don’t get me wrong – Down are a serious football team. We are talking about a side that, despite the margin being six points in the end, kicked Kerry off the field from first minute to last in the quarter-final.
They did the same to us in the league – and what is most worrying this week is that they have exactly the type of forward line that might trouble us.
There is a lot of talk that Meath have the best forwards in the country, and it’s true that they have super individuals. But they lack pace and cohesion and mobility.
They are three things the Down forwards possess in abundance. And the Kildare defence is at its weakest when it’s stretched and forwards can run at us one-on-one.
Even when you get beyond the obvious threats of the Clarkes and Benny Coulter and Danny Hughes, there is Paul McComiskey. Anyone who was at the Kildare versus Down 2008 All-Ireland U21 semi-final in Navan knows exactly what the Dundrum man can do. And then there is Mark Polland. And then Ronan Murtagh.
All are the pacy, tricky types that typically cause Kildare problems.
We have previewed the last three games by saying that Kildare can’t afford another slow start. In each game we’ve got a dreadful start and still won comfortably.
But on Sunday it’s finally true. Down target fast starts in their games and while Kildare will not collapse no matter how far we go behind, giving one of the most self-confident teams in the country an early 1-3 or 1-4 is still asking for heartbreak.
Down may be comfortably the best side we’ve faced so far this year, but they are not without their own weaknesses.
They have the poorest defence left in the competition, and a tendency to lose their way for long periods of a game, as they did against Donegal, Tyrone and Offaly.
And yet, if there is confidence in Kildare, it will be nothing compared to the cockiness up North – Down’s history tells them that when they get far enough to be beating Kerry, they invariably end up lifting Sam. Neither Kildare or Cork hold any fears for them.
So anyone looking to find an argument for backing Down has plenty of ammunition. When you look at it as we have over the last few paragraphs and factor in our free-taking problems and the question marks over Dermot Earley, the stage seems set for disappointment.
But move from our weaknesses to our strengths.
There is not a fitter team in the country than Kildare.
There is not a mentally stronger team in the country than Kildare.
There is not a team in the country that has played more scintillating football in each of its last three games than Kildare.
You normally fret about the things that might go wrong in a big one-off game like this. A nightmare start. A simple missed goal chance for Kildare. An injury to Earley or some other key player. Missed frees. A wet greasy day. A jammy goal for the opposition.
But all of these things have happened to us before. There is nothing that can knock Kildare’s self-belief. I used to look at our history and see the unbelievable bad luck that knocked us off course when glory seemed imminent.
An astonishingly bad refereeing decision in the ’66 Leinster final. The circumstances leading up to Trevor Giles’ last minute goal in 1997. Cruel injuries in 1998.
But this team shows that bad luck is simply something that truly great sides overcome.
Kildare are not a truly great side yet. Down will test them to the limit. But if football is ultimately a game of resolve, we have the right men on our side.
Kildare to win – and then we will see how slow time can really go.