WIN AND YOU GET A SUPER HOME TIE

Buoyant Lilies want Super 8 and more: Johnny

GAA president John Horan has promised that Kildare will have a home game if they reach the Super 8 stage of the Championship.

The fallout last week over whether Cian O’neill’s side would host Mayo in Newbridge led to fears that St Conleth’s Park wouldn’t be allowed to stage a game come the round robin stage if Kildare were still involved.

It has a modest capacity of just 8,200.

But speaking ahead of yesterday morning’s qualifier draw on RTE Radio, Horan (above) said: “It is in rule that each team in the Super 8s get a home game and that will be stood over.

“It was agreed at Congress and we won’t be going back on that.”

The GAA was forced into an embarrassing climbdown by Kildare last week with their qualifier tie against Mayo eventually going ahead in Newbridge.

The CCCC had fixed it for Croke Park, an experience that Horan

JOHNNY BYRNE believes making the Super 8s can only be the start of Kildare’s ambition after the Lilywhites were propelled to victory by their 16th man in Newbridge.

The reward for Cian O’neill’s side after dispatching Mayo from the Championship is a high-stakes meeting with Fermanagh in Navan on Saturday evening.

Both sides will fancy their chances of progressing to the new All-ireland quarter-final series but O’neill has a job on his hands to bring his players back down to earth after their big St Conleth’s Park triumph.

Byrne paid tribute to the outnumbered Kildare crowd on their own patch for roaring their side to victory after the successful Newbridge or Nowhere campaign that saw the Lilywhites win their battle with GAA chiefs to host the game.

“You could definitely feel the county behind us, with all the support and the comments coming from club members,” Byrne said.

“It really fed into our performance and you could see that in the crowd that even though they were outnumbered by Mayo, you definitely would not know that in the noise they made.

“They were like a 16th player on the field for us. They were unbelievable and all credit goes to them.

“The welcome we received was something and we responded.

“But we should be giving that to them every game because they come and support us every day. We want to keep giving this to them.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling but it’s something we’ve been working hard on since our defeat to Carlow. It shows that we’re up with the top teams.” That shock loss to Carlow followed

relegation from

Division 1 on the back of seven straight losses, and the Lilywhites looked to have hit rock bottom.

But have they redeemed themselves with wins on the road against Derry and Longford, followed by the defeat of Mayo.

“At the time it was a shock,” said wing-back Byrne, reflecting on the loss to Division 4 champions Carlow. “But I never doubted these players.

“We knew that was uncharacteristic and it didn’t represent who we are. We took it game by game after that and this just topped it all off.”

One more win will put Kildare in Group 1 of the Super 8s along with Galway and Kerry – and one from either Laois or Monaghan.

“Super 8s is a big, big target which we’ve had all year,” Byrne said. “But it’s all about the next game.

“Look how far that’s after taking us, so we’re not going to start thinking about the Super 8s now.”

But victory in Navan would bring on the development of this team by leaps and bounds.

“Without a doubt,” he said. “But if we did get to the Super 8s, we would be looking to go further again.”