McKenna helps earn special piece of silverware for wedding day

Paddy McKenna was the first to admit that the Laois goal at the start of the second half of the McDonagh Cup Final wasn’t his finest moment in a Kildare jersey but said the response that followed typified the team.

Asked how it felt to get a birds eye view of such a good second half performance, the Clane man replied:

“I certainly didn’t help things at the start of the it!” 

Of course, he needn’t have worried. He’s been the man to save Kildare in their hour of need many times before and his team-mates out the field made sure that the Laois goal was a mere footnote by the end of the game.

“We’ve done plenty of work with our Sports Psychologist Gerry Fitzpatrick, even though he doesn’t like that title, we knew we had the legs and all the hard work done and it was just about backing ourselves. Nobody points fingers on this team. Everybody is in and everybody is doing work. Maybe if that didn’t go in we might not have kicked on in the way that we did, that’s the way I’m going to look at it anyway,” laughed McKenna.

The goalkeeper was captain when Kildare won the Christy Ring Cup 12 months previously and probably thought that nothing would beat being the man to lift a trophy for Kildare but said this win surpassed even that.

“It’s my proudest day in a Kildare jersey, without a doubt. It’s hard to put into words, we’re in there in the dressing room jumping around like headless chickens. I’m just delighted for everybody involved in Kildare hurling, and everybody involved in Kildare GAA as a whole. No one person has been driving this, it’s been a county wide effort and hopefully this is just the start of something that will continue to grow and grow.

“I’m not writing off last year as captain, that was unbelievable but this is something different. It’s probably the realisation that we are done with the yo-yo, we are here and we mean business,” said McKenna.

It sets up a perfect match for Kildare against Dublin in Newbridge next Saturday but McKenna has a perfect match of his own when he marries his fiancée Ciara the following Friday. He was under strict conditions to win the game and come back unscathed without anything like a black eye to ruin the wedding photos. He managed to tick both boxes and now has a very special piece of silverware to bring along on the day.

“We have the centre piece for the top table sorted after today anyway. Ciara has been great. She comes from a GAA background and played herself so she understands. She’s been great and is making sure all is in order for the day. It’s like buses, you wait a long time for these kind of things to happen and then they all come along at once but I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said.