Kelly hoping to end Croke Park hoodoo and shock Dubs as Kildare prepare for long awaited shot at glory

As unlikely as it seems and despite being a constant beacon of hope in Kildare since being handed his championship debut in 2013, Niall Kelly's record in Croke Park is one that probably doesn't reflect the impact he has had on the county's fortunes.

Kelly marked his first appearance in HQ with four points against Offaly more than four years ago, but the only other victory the diminutive Athy man has tasted there since that June afternoon was one achieved over Louth a year later. Kildare have lost to Dublin twice since then in the Leinster Championship, along with losses to Meath and Westmeath in the intervening years, while he missed out through injury in Kildare's last win on Jones' Road, the dour quarter-final victory over Wexford last Summer. Kildare have also tasted defeat in league finals to Clare and Galway over the past couple of years, so both Kelly and the Lilywhites are well overdue a positive championship performance when they come up against Dublin on Sunday.

"There's no denying it; the last few times we've been there we probably haven't done ourselves justice," acknowledged Kelly.

"The league final being the last one and it really was a setback and it probably was a wake-up call for us. Any big games you want to be winning are in Croke Park, so it is one that's still there for us and it's something we have to rectify and we'll be hoping that we can put a wrong right.

"I suppose we haven't played our semi-final this year in Croke as opposed to the last few years, so people have been putting that down as to why we won the semi-final, but realistically it can't be something that's playing on our minds going into the final. It's something we have to put to the back of our minds and concentrate on our performance."

Looking in at Dublin's performance against Westmeath would have made for some particularly grim viewing for Kildare as they prepare to take on a juggernaut that has won 11 of the last 12 Leinster titles, and Kelly knows the feeling of being on the receiving end of such hammerings as the one dished out to the Lake County as he featured as a substitute in the 5-18 to 0-14 loss to Dublin just two years ago.

He admits that being in that position can be a lonely place despite thousands looking on from the terraces in Croke Park.

"There might be 50 or 60 thousand at it but it can feel very lonely on the pitch," he said.

Kelly had a more subdued performance than we have come to expect in Kildare's Leinster semi-final win over Meath, failing to score as Cian O'Neill's side racked up 2-16, and that was mostly to do with the extreme attention that Royals defender Mickey Burke gave him throughout. Sunday's game is lightly to present a completely different scenario as Kelly's direct opponent, Cian O'Sullivan, normally drops back into the sweeper role and doesn't tend to mark a man. Someone else is likely to pick him up, but the open spaces of Croke Park should provide the playmaker in Kildare's ranks a bit more freedom.

"Going into games I try not to look at who I'm directly marking too much," he said.

"It's a funny enough one because against Meath it was probably completely different because they were man-marking everyone, so it's a completely different kettle of fish. Croke Park is a funny place; it's very hard for anyone to be man-marked in Croke Park because it's so big, so it's really about getting our system right more than anything.

"Dublin have been working on theirs over the past few years and have it fairly well down to a tee, so it's just about breaking that down as opposed to breaking one man down. It's not really about marking anyone, you're going to be probably marking six at any one time. You don't know who you're going to be up against. It's an unknown in terms of who you'll be marking but you know that there's going to be a system in place that's going to be hard to break down."

"In a way if a team aren't directly man-marking you you might find it easier to get on ball, but then at the same time you might find it harder to impact the game. I suppose it's a catch 22; there's positives and negatives to both. In the Meath game you might not be getting on as much ball as you want but you could be opening up space for others. We don't really mind who's getting our scores or who's getting the ball as long as we're winning."

Being born in 1994, Kelly's recollections of the last time Kildare won a Leinster title are a slight bit hazy. Going all the way back to 2000, the Athy clubman can still remember the sense of anticipation around the county back then.

"I think I was on holidays in Portugal with the family or something," reminisces Kelly.

"I remember the lead up to it, it was just a brilliant buzz around the county and you can see it creeping in now as well. With the four weeks between the games it's a slow burner, and especially with Dublin's big win people still have the doubts in their minds."

Kildare GAA supporters have a bit of a reputation for gathering unrealistic expectations on the back of a few good results, and that has sometimes weighed down on teams at different times as the pressure is ramped up to unrealistic levels. There is certainly excitement leading up to Sunday's game, but the fact that Jim Gavin's All-Ireland champions stand in the way means that those expectations have been tempered this time round.

"I'd say more realism than anything to be honest," said Kelly when asked about the expectations of the county's supporters.

"There's always a level of expectation in Kildare and they do expect the team to do well on any given year, but I suppose people will see how dominant Dublin have been in the past few years and what they can do to teams. There is a realism there that if we're not up to scratch we could be Westmeath last week. It's just up to us to do as much work as we can over the next two weeks and make sure that we're not put in that position."

"It does really mean everything to us as players and to friends and family; it would be massive. But at the same time going into the game you can't treat it as anything bigger than any other game, you can't get caught up in the hype and the razzmatazz around a Leinster final. It's important for us to keep our heads on the ground, but at the same time it's massive for everyone here and it's up to us to put in a massive shift."

Most people outside the camp are not giving Kildare much of a chance on Sunday due to the nature of the beast they face, but Kelly and his teammates are a competitive bunch who will not look at a four or five points loss as a 'decent performance' as many would describe it.

Asked if the Lilywhites have a realistic chance of winning, Kelly smiled and said;

"I'd definitely like to think so. On any given day it's 15 against 15 so we just have to put our heads down and have a cut at it. We're under no illusions of what Dublin can bring and what Dublin will bring. We know that their performance is at a level that we haven't faced this year or probably in the last few years. We have full confidence in Cian and the lads to have us prepared mentally and physically for what they're going to bring. We don't think that it's a foregone conclusion at all by any means."