Clare left Newbridge with the expected result, but Kildare pushed them far harder than most anticipated

Tadhg Beirne, Jamie Osborne, Jeremy Loughman and Cian Prendergast all play their part as Ireland put themselves right back in contention for the 2026 Six Nations. 

With Alex Beirne suspended for Sunday's crucial National League game away to Cavan, Kildare vice-captain Darragh Kirwan makes a timely return from injury to make his first start of 2026

Kildare take Clare in Newbridge on Saturday evening

Rathangan's Johne Murphy spoke to The Kildare Nationalist this week and gave his appraisal of the situation for each of the Kildare players involved in the 2026 Six Nations. 

After a distinguished amateur career, Aodhán Byrne makes his debut in the professional ranks on Saturday evening

Alex Beirne is set to miss Sunday's tie against Cavan after his appeal against last weekend's red card against Derry was dismissed 

Dean O'Shea skippered Maynooth University as they beat University Limerick to retain the Collingwood Cup and was later named Player of the Tournament 

Head Coach Andy Farrell has named three Kildare men in his squad for Saturday's Guinness Six Nations clash against England at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, with Sam Prendergast out of the number ten jersey - and out of the 23 entirely. 

Outsider Grainne A Chroi caused something of an upset in the feature race at Punchestown

Sisters Ciara, Emma and Gillian Wheeler played for the Kildare senior team for the first time this year

After the high of a superb win over Antrim last time out, Kildare's hurlers have a difficult test against illustrious opponents on Saturday evening

Kilcock rider Conn McDunphy has signed on with a new team for this year

Kildare's National Football League season hit a first bump in the road last weekend with defeat to Derry, but the focus now turns to immediately bouncing back against Cavan

The meeting goes ahead after an early morning inspection 

On Valentine's Day in 2025 Cathal McCarthy was an unused substitute as UCD were beaten by Wexford in the League of Ireland First Division. Fast forward 12 months almost to the day and he was part of the Hull City defence charged with keeping quiet over €150m worth of attacking talent in the Chelsea forward line in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

As it stands, Alex Beirne will be suspended for next Sunday's clash against Cavan but Brian Flanagan confirmed that Kildare will be looking at the possibility of getting that decision overturned 

There red cards, black cards, moments of magic, moments of farce but eventually Derry came from five points down early in the second half to beat Kildare by three points

Clonmullion had high hopes of reaching the last eight of the Leinster FA Junior but found it hard to be at their very best in just their second competitive game since the end of November

Kildare could start with the same team that so impressively beat Offaly last time out but there are the return of a number of familiar faces among the substitutes