Alan Brogan: Kildare must remember the last time they came down from such a level three years ago

IF you thought last week was tough for Cian O'Neill and Kildare, this one could be worse. There is a natural summit that comes from the kind of victory they won against Mayo last Saturday night, especially in the unique context in which the Lilywhites found themselves.

They were not content with Mayo, they defied the establishment and won both accounts on their own turf.

That buzz of satisfaction that you get from something like that is why you do sports but this adrenaline rush This is not the easiest thing to do, especially in l & rsquo; Only one week

Kildare, in an equally perilous situation with Jason Ryan after a relatively difficult year, beat Cork in Thurles, There was a ground invasion and the kind of celebrations that we had not seen from their supporters until last Saturday.

A week later, they lost 27 points against Kerry at Croke Park

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They will not know who they play until last Monday morning, at which point the players physically recover from what was a mammoth effort just a few nights earlier. 19659004] But now Rory Gallagher's Fermanagh are before, they will pose completely different challenges to Kildare in Navan this Saturday night

The last time Kildare played against a team with such intense dedication to defense, they were beaten by Carlow

and Fermanagh.

It takes patience and it takes practice to break down the time and the time for Kildare management to devise a game plan and then the players to learn it are severely limited.

While Kildare had great athletic men to return Mayo and gallop in the spaces of St Conleth's Park last week, Fermanagh will occupy the ball, keep possession and frustrate his opponents.

Great athletic men are easily tied up by a group of organized defenders and in the kind of warmth we have right now, a turnaround can give a great energy to the team that forces it to kill the team that loses the ball. 19659004] Kildare is a funny team.

They were good enough in terms of talent and organization to compete for probably five of their seven league games.

Still, they probably lacked the skill to win these tight games and the tumble of consecutive defeats. before beating Derry at Owenbeg is symptomatic of a team that may lack some leadership.

What is encouraging for them this week is that they showed a lot of know-how and leadership to beat Mayo

. Dermot Earley, Johnny Doyle and Ronan Sweeney are not easy to replace.

Dublin can regenerate his team for the moment without missing a beat but they are the exception.

Even Kerry found it difficult to replace Ó Sés, Galvin, Gooch and all the rest in the seasons prior to this one.

But there are good signs for Kildare that Daniel Flynn, Paddy Brophy and Kevin Feely, in particular, are becoming true leaders as well as exceptional footballers.

I hope Kildare will win on Saturday, both for Leinster football and for Kildare themselves.

They have had the habit over the last decade of making progressive progress and coming back violently very quickly.

The gain is huge.

If they win on Saturday, they will have Galway in Newbridge and probably Monaghan at Croke Park in the "Super 8s" on top of a trip to Killarney.

They have come a long way since losing to Carlow but their next step is monumental.

Herald Sport