Flynn glad to be back fit and firing at the business end of the season

Moorefield did as Moorefield always do and battled and hassled and harried but in the end that was no match for the class and quality of Celbridge who booked their place in the Joe Mallon Motors Senior Football Championship semi-finals with a 3-19 to 1-16 win last weekend, much to the delight of pacy wide man Kevin Flynn.

“You’d expect nothing else from Moorefield,” he said.

“Right to the end there, there were a few shaky moments but yeah, a good performance. Probably loads we can work on but we are in a semi-final now, that’s where we wanted to be and that’s the main thing,” he added.

Celbridge have shown some indifferent form in this year’s Championship but in their two biggest games to date and when the occasion demanded it, they delivered their best performances. That is what is needed now as the games get more difficult and more intense.

“When you get knocked out at the end of last year it’s a long wait again before the business end of things. You can probably tell from performances that’s how it goes. Johnstownbridge was a disappointing performance and we knew we had to bounce back against Athy, which we did in a big game that day. Quarter-finals, semi-finals, they are the knockout stages and you just have to perform on the day and hopefully we can do that the next day,” said Flynn.

Wing back Dean O’Dongohue was the unlikely scorer of a hat-trick of goals in the win over Moorefield, which typifies the way that Celbridge play with threats all over the field.

“I’m not looking forward to hearing about that all week, he’ll be delighted with himself! 

"But look, the nature of the game nowadays is that everybody is getting forward, everybody is getting back. Even with the three up, I found myself there in the full back line, then in the full forward line, that’s just the nature of it these days. Deano is a class player and he took his goals well, Niall O’Regan is another playing well, lots of lads are moving well and we just need to keep the confidence high and keep at it,” said Flynn.

It was also a real return to form for Flynn himself, who scored two points from wing forward. He carried an injury from last year’s club season into the start of the year and a succession of niggly injuries prevented him from finding any rhythm during the inter-county season but he is back fully fit and enjoying his football again.

“I was happy (today). In the last few games I’ve got a bit of confidence and I’m just feeling myself again. The run of games helps, I just didn’t get a run of games for Kildare at all for different reasons. When you getting back to back games you just get into it. I’ve a bit more of a stride on me now, I was gassing a bit there in the last few minutes but it’s good to be back playing a nice bit of football,” he said.

It means a repeat of the last two county finals against Naas next time out in the semi-finals. Celbridge heartbreakingly lost both those finals by just a solitary point and Flynn said it’s a matter of trying to make the game’s big moments go in their favour this time around.

“They are a class team and they have some serious players. Like ourselves, it’s two well matched teams going at it. In them games, it’s just about big moments, thinking of Hanafin’s goal last year which was probably against the run of play. These moments swing them so it’s just about trying to control them as much as possible. I’m looking forward to it now though, they are always good spirited games, a lot of good football in them so hopefully it will be the same again,” he said.