Kildare and Quaid homing in on final destination after 3 years of trying

Saturday afternoon’s meeting with London will hopefully bring a happy conclusion to a three-year journey that has seen plenty of excitement, entertainment and some disappointment for Kildare hurling under Joe Quaid.

The Limerick man was brought in with the intention of leading Kildare to a Christy Ring Cup title, but also with the remit of progressing hurling in the county by promoting from within. Picking players from within the county was a key facet of that plan, and though he had to veer off course from that idea last year, Quaid remained devoted to his promise of not picking any permit players in 2018, even when things looked bleak during the National League.

Having lost every game in the league and being demoted to Division 2B, it did not look all that promising for the Lilywhites ahead of the Christy Ring Cup campaign. The slate was wiped clean in the break between the end of the league and the start of the championship however, and four wins on the trot has left Kildare in a strong position going into the Croke Park decider on Saturday. From the very start of his tenure, Quaid has always remained committed to the idea that delivering a Christy Ring title was the major objective.

“When we came in, that was the goal – that’s why I looked for three years,” Quaid told the Kildare Post.

“OK, we were the puc of a ball away from getting there the first year against Meath in the semi-final but that was probably overachievement. Last year we had a fantastic league but we fell very flat in championship, so this year we kind of changed our tack and we focused on the Christy Ring then. Our league wasn’t great, but we still always had the Christy Ring final in our sights.”

This being the third of Quaid’s three years that was agreed upon when he took over, it will be interesting to see whether or not he stays on following Saturday’s game. The former All-Star winning goalkeeper insists that he hasn’t made a decision and hasn’t thought about it, with focus remaining firmly on the challenge of London.

“I’ll finish out the three years, and that will be in Croke Park and we’ll discuss it after that. I won’t look ahead one bit,” he said.

“This isn’t about me; it’s about Kildare hurling at the moment and about the players, so as far as I’m concerned is that our job at the moment is to get them across the line, anything outside of that is irrelevant really.

Kildare’s most recent appearance in Croke Park was in 2014 when they surprisingly beat Kerry to win the Christy Ring Cup, and there are a number of players who are still involved from that day. Nine players who featured in that win will be in the panel on Saturday, but Quaid thinks it will be the younger players who could thrive in GAA headquarters.

“The big wide open spaces for our young lads will suit us as well hopefully. London gave us a right clipping over in Ruislip on a very similar sized pitch in the league when it was do or die, so we’re not going to be taking them for granted. It’s not a match where if I was betting that I’d be confident about throwing money down on any side.”

Saturday’s winners will play in a relegation/promotion playoff on Saturday week, a frankly farcical turnaround of just seven days after such an important game. While Quaid is not looking ahead to a potential meeting with Antrim to decide on promotion to the Joe McDonagh Cup, he is keen to highlight the unfair advantage that the Saffrons will have against either Kildare or London in that game.

“I think the winners of the Christy Ring should go straight up,” he said.

“Look, if we’re good enough and we win the Christy Ring I think it’s very unfair that we’d be asked to go out and play a week later. No matter who it is, whether it’s ourselves or London, surely these guys are entitled to go away and celebrate winning an All-Ireland title.”

For now, winning the Christy Ring Cup will do just fine for all involved.