MANNA FROM KEVIN

KEVIN FEELY is thrilled Kildare have a second chance to prove they can mix it with the best.

The Lilies crashed out of Division 1 earlier this year after losing all seven games. And after beginning their Leinster campaign with a shock loss to Carlow, few tipped them to make it to the business end of the Championship.

But they navigated all four rounds of qualifiers to secure a golden ticket to the Super 8s.

First up is Sunday’s clash with Monaghan at Croke Park, then a home tie against Connacht champions Galway, followed by a glamour game in Kerry.

Midfielder Feely said: “It’s basically back to where we were in Division 1. And we’ll have in the back of our minds that we let ourselves down in a lot of those Division 1 games. So we’ll have a massive point to prove going into every single game we play in the Super 8s.”

Feely (above) revealed that there is a huge sense of relief around the panel now.

It was a difficult few weeks after the defeat to Carlow and redemption was only secured when they hammered Fermanagh last Saturday to make the Super 8s.

Feely said: “There’s definitely a sense of being able to breathe out a little, Relief is the overwhelming emotion.”

In running up a 3-20 tally against the Erne men, Kildare offered a glimpse of their vast potential.

Feely added: “That word ‘potential’ has been thrown around a lot with us. A quote one of our selectors, Padraig Brennan, said to us is that ‘potential’ is not playing very well a lot of the time. And that sums us up nicely.

“I think definitely for large periods of the game against Fermanagh we played to our potential.”