Kildare want to make Newbridge a 'fortress' says Cathal McCabe after semi-final win

“A very tough day for hurling. The wind, the rain, the pitch and the heaviness didn’t make it easy to play stylish hurling so we just had to go back to basics and dig it out. The first 10 minutes of the second half probably wasn’t good enough either, but it was good that we had that fight in us to bounce back and we never gave up, even against the conditions,” the words of Kildare midfielder Cathal McCabe after his side’s 0-17 to 2-10 win over Antrim.

“We dug it out with Liam (O’Reilly) sticking over the winner there and we have another game out next weekend which is the most important thing. We have a bye in the first round of the league so we really wanted to get another game next weekend, so that’s big for us.”

McCabe humbly left out the detail that he was the player that set up Kildare’s winning score which capped a superb overall performance from one of Brian Dowling’s key men.

He added, “We have a winning mentality from last year. It’s important, especially in the home games this year, that we want to make Newbridge a fortress. Any team that comes down here, we want to let them know what Newbridge is about so it was important today that, conditions or no conditions, we put in a performance and let Antrim know when they are coming back in here in a couple of weeks that they are getting nothing easy off us.”

A key detail of Kildare’s win is of course victory over an established Division 1B side with Kildare continuing their preparations for life in the second highest tier of the Allianz Hurling League after promotion in 2025.

“It gives us that boost of confidence that we are a good team and that is not a one off from last year. We have been putting savage work in in the off-season, Mick Gillis (S&C) has us doing trojan work so it is good that it has paid off because we were still going towards the end there,” McCabe said.

The Lilies’ last gasp win earned them a Walsh Shield final game with Kilkenny which came to both the amusement and excitement of the Maynooth midfielder.

“That’ll be good, I’m sure Brian (Dowling) will love that now. He’ll be back down to St. Kieran's College letting them know all about it,” he laughed. “They are the games we want to be playing in.”

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