Hurling for Kildare last year, looking for All-Ireland glory with Limerick today

Kildare have had many hurlers line out for them down through the years from other counties that were more recognised as hurling strongholds. There have been players who were coming to the end of their intercounty careers and wanted to continue playing at a high level; there has been those who simply weren't good enough to play for their own counties and fancied the chance at lining out for some county at least; there has also been some who moved to the area and settled down into life in Kildare and played with the Lilywhites for quite a few years.

David Reidy is very different however.

He only finished college in Mary Immaculate in 2016, helping them to win a Fitzgibbon Cup title, and he was involved with the Limerick hurlers for a few years up to that point. When current manager John Kiely came in it spelt an end to Reidy's intercounty career for a short spell, the Dromin Athlacca man being cut from the panel.

Working as a teacher in Naas, Reidy was offered the chance to play hurling at intercounty level in the early winter of 2017 by his fellow county man Joe Quaid, manager of the Lilywhites.

“I wasn’t part of the 2017 panel and Joe [Quaid] rang me and asked if I wanted to come in, I was living and working in Kildare, so I did. It was a great experience," said Reidy.

“It appealed to me straightaway, I didn’t think it was going to happen but he rang me and asked me in for a week or two. I thoroughly enjoyed it, the set-up was great, so I continued."

Reidy came in and was undoubtedly Kildare's best player throughout the year. His scoring exploits kept the Lilywhites in Division 2a of the National League, while he plundered 0-24 in his first two games in the Christy Ring Cup before missing the quarter-final defeat to Carlow through injury.

“I didn’t know what to expect but I can’t speak highly enough of the players and management, Kildare hurling in general and the Christy Ring competition," remarked Reidy.

“The effort the boys put in are as good as anywhere else, the professionalism is the same, and I was delighted to see them win the Christy Ring this year. I can’t speak highly enough of them.”

Reidy was recalled to the Limerick panel at the beginning of 2018 and made his first appearance in the championship against Cork in the epic semi-final win for the Treaty, clipping over a vital score after coming on as a late substitute for John Kiely's side.

Quaid has consistently hailed the impact that the talented forward had on Kildare last year, and his influence was certainly felt throughout his only season with the team. He and his brother Michael were some of the five permit players that were in the Kildare panel, but Quaid opted to use only Kildare club players this year as he looked to build a side capable of competing with the second tier sides in intercounty hurling.

Speaking to KildareNow at the start of this year about Reidy rejoining the Limerick panel, Quaid said;

"I’m delighted for David. It did him no harm to be in the limelight, but to be fair to David, he didn’t come with us last year to do that, he came with us because he was asked the same as the rest of the lads were, and they were happy to throw their lot in with Kildare.

“At the end of the day, all the fellas that came, they’re genuine hurling men and they wanted to play intercounty hurling and they got the opportunity,” he said.

“It still beggars belief why he wasn’t on the Limerick panel last year, but I suppose Limerick’s loss last year was definitely Kildare’s gain because it ensured that we had a good league campaign and he was instrumental when we beat Mayo in the Christy Ring Cup as well.”

Reidy will be hoping to feature for Limerick again today against Galway in the All-Ireland final, but he has already enjoyed a rather remarkable journey this year. There can't be an instance where a player has gone from playing in the Christy Ring Cup to an All-Ireland final in the space of a year, and you can be sure that plenty of his former teammates in Kildare will be rooting for him this afternoon.