No room for complacency 

“Sure, isn’t Limerick a hurling county? There’s no way we should be losing to them.” 

I heard those words, or ones to that effect, a few times over the past couple of weeks and hopefully it is an attitude that doesn’t seep into Hawkfield.

A similar sentiment was probably expressed in Laois prior to our hurlers playing them twice this year. 

“Sure, they’ve no hurlers in Kildare.” 

We know how that one worked out. 

Kildare supporters should heed a lesson.

Sunday’s Tailteann Cup Final is a curious one to preview.

If you’d have bet on who we’d meet in the decider at the start of the campaign, assuming you were optimistic enough about our own chances, you might have expected one from Westmeath, Offaly, Sligo or Fermanagh to be lining up alongside us.

Limerick are something of an unknown quantity to most in Kildare, and we have very little history with them, though we met them in two significant Qualifier games in Kieran McGeeney’s time. Those are the only championship clashes between the sides. More of that later.

And yes, it is true that Limerick is by and large hurling country, a hugely successful one at that. But some might not know that the Treaty Men were not only the first county to win an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, but they are also the only finalists who have never been beaten in a final.

Curiously, they also have more All-Ireland titles (two) than Munster ones having won the 1887 All Ireland, beating Louth in the final after an open draw without Provincials. They then won their only Munster title in 1896 when they went on to win a second All Ireland, beating Dublin. They’ve never been back in the final.

The sides have never met in a decider of any sort, but there were those qualifiers of 2008 (R2) and 2012 (R3), the former coming a week after the Treaty had shocked Meath 4-12 to 4-3.

Kildare had put the shock Leinster defeat to Wicklow behind them with a last gasp win over Cavan in Newbridge in Round 1, but Limerick were many people’s favourite in the Gaelic Grounds.

The game was panning out that way with a still-fragile Kildare, with a rookie manager in McGeeney, trailing by three points at the interval.

The turning point didn’t come until the 58th minute and one wonders how the McGeeney managerial career may have panned out had it not. It came with a slice of luck as well. One of Limerick’s best players, midfielder Jim Donovan, punched a clearance he could have caught, James Kavanagh pounced on it, moving it on to Mikey Conway who in turn set up who else but Johnny Doyle to crash home one of the most crucial goals of his career.

A true sliding doors moment as Kildare made it across the finish line with three points to spare.

Cue a pitch invasion of loyal travelling supporters, and a bandwagon that had threatened to derail was well and truly on the march. A few weeks later McGeeney would lead Kildare into the first of five All Ireland quarter-finals in succession.

Four years later we were edging, though we didn’t realise it, towards the end of his reign, but on the way to another last eight appearance, Limerick again stood in Kildare’s path, this time in Round 3 in Portlaoise.

They gave us an almighty shock and looked to be heading for a major upset win when ahead by a point with the clock ticking deep into injury time.

Coincidentally it was Kavanagh who again started the recovery act, winning a turnover in his own defensive corner. Within seconds Emmet Bolton was unerringly shooting the equalising point.

A relieved Kildare swamped Limerick with six unanswered points in the first period of extra time, rendering the second half academic and on they marched.

Before and since those encounters the story of Kildare and Limerick is a mundane one. Over the course of history Kildare have won eight of their nine encounters, the exception being a one-point win for the Treaty Men in Askeaton in 1989.

Looking at Limerick this year, there’s no doubt Jimmy Lee has them moving on an upward trajectory. They finished behind Wexford in Division 4 but outscored them thanks to three goals in the final.

Their Munster campaign was short-lived, suffering an eleven-point loss to Cork in the opening round.

But they’ve regained their mojo in the Tier 2 competition, beating Westmeath, Antrim and London in their Group and then accounting for Wexford again and Wicklow with that remarkable comeback two weeks ago to make it five championship wins in a row for the first time ever.

It’s hard to judge them on that topsy-turvy display against Wicklow when they looked dead and buried at seven points behind after 52 minutes. But Mark Jackson’s ricket in goal for Wicklow threw them a lifeline and a penalty save by impressive goalkeeper Josh Ryan prompted a remarkable comeback.

Kildare will have to watch out for Danny Neville who despite being the wrong side of 30 remains a speedy attacker with an eye for goal while Ian Corbett is an experienced mainstay out the field with Ryan a very modern roving goalkeeper well capably of kicking two pointers.

As for Kildare, they carry the favourites tag, rightly so based on their standing as a team promoted from Division 2, a team clearly taking this competition seriously.

Kildare got the Croke Park monkey off their backs, admittedly unconvincingly, against Fermanagh in what was truthfully one of the worst games of football played this year.

Flanagan’s team could do worse than watch a recording of the hurlers’ Joe McDonagh Final performance, where a team put everything on the line while playing without a shred of fear and having the resolve to come back from that goal concession at the start of the second half to blow Laois away. Approach the game with that attitude and Kildare should have the talent to win.

At this level Kildare’s flaws might not prove fatal but you’d love to see some variation to kick out strategies (I don’t think one went short the last day and Kildare suffered), some more mobility around midfield (we have missed Callum Bolton and hopefully he is fit to line out), and our forwards will need to find their shooting boots. A conversion rate that only just crept above 40% will not be enough.

Considering that, Neil Flynn’s addition to the training panel is interesting. Flynn’s accuracy is beyond reproach, and he could prove a dangerous weapon around the outside of the arc from frees and play. I’m torn on whether it was the right thing to bring him into the panel at this late stage. Is that fair on those who have trained all year?

On the other hand, it is good to see a Kildare manager showing a ruthless streak with the aim of winning a big game. And this is a big game make no mistake as it helps define our standard for the next two to three years. Flanagan deserves the benefit of the doubt on this one.

If Kildare get stage-struck yet again in Croke Park, Limerick have the scoring threat to punish them, but a McDonagh-esque performance is within this group, as many have shown at underage level, and they get the vote to clinch that all-important Sam Maguire spot and a first national trophy in Croke Park since the 2012 Allianz Division 2 title.