Division 3 is about to come to the boil 

Last Sunday felt like moving day in Division 3 of the Allianz Football League with Kildare, Offaly, Clare and Laois laying down their promotion markers with a win apiece to cement their places in the top four after three rounds.

Brian Flanagan’s Kildare did what was asked from them in Ballinamore, making it three wins from three by scuttling an inexperienced Leitrim by a whopping 23 points, having raced into a 1-12 to no score lead within the opening 24 minutes.

With a few niggles impacting the camp along with the competing demands of the Sigerson Cup, Flanagan used the game to hand first senior starts to Jack McKevitt and Cathal Hagney, with Tommy Gill and Adam Fanning coming off the bench for their debuts as he continues to build the depth of his panel.

Leitrim have lost two managers in Andy Moran and Mickey Graham and virtually a full team of players since running Kildare to seven points in the Tailteann Cup last summer, and it was a case of men against boys as Flanagan’s side put them to the sword.

An audacious goal from a close-range free from man-of-the-match Alex Beirne and a four-point return from the confident Hagney were the highlights for Kildare, with the only niggle perhaps being a failure to create a goalscoring opportunity from play against such poor opposition, albeit on a heavy and slippery surface.

Division 3 is really bubbling nicely into a fascinating battle with, whisper it, three Leinster teams apparently on the up with Kildare and Offaly top on six points and Laois joined by Munster’s Clare on four behind them.

Kildare’s path to promotion is by no means straightforward, despite their strong start, with Laois to come on Saturday night in a mouth-watering encounter under lights at Cedral St Conleth’s Park (7pm) and away trips to fellow contenders Clare and Offaly to follow before the campaign wraps up at home to Antrim.

No one will need reminding that Laois brought the Glenn Ryan era to a shuddering halt in the Tailteann Cup in Tullamore last June and while they lost out to neighbours Offaly, re-invigorated under Mickey Harte’s tutelage, in the opening round of the league, they beat Leitrim with ease before an impressive seven-point win over Sligo, who ran Kildare close.

Laois lost a lot of players this year, perhaps not to the same extent as Leitrim, but they will come to Newbridge with a degree of confidence having found their shooting boots in a big way the last few weeks under Justin McNulty.

Flanagan for his part will relish the opportunity of a huge game under lights in Conleth’s but will be surveying his walking wounded in Hawkfield during the coming days. He expressed confidence that Darragh Kirwan will be available having sat out Ballinamore, but Ryan Houlihan suffered a quad injury, Kevin Flynn has more hamstring trouble and Niall Kelly and Daniel Flynn were others to miss out on Sunday.

It is all set up nicely for the biggest test yet of Flanagan’s nascent reign.