YOU HAVE TO rewind to the Mick O’Dwyer days when Eamonn Callaghan started out on the road as a Kildare senior footballer back in 2002.
Yet despite seasons of toiling away with scant reward – ploughing ahead in a career that has featured four Leinster final losses, a few shattering All-Ireland series defeats and a semi-final reversal to Down in 2010 – Callaghan was still standing on a memorable night for the county, 16 years on from his debut.
The Naas man was pushed into action in the 70th minute of a madcap qualifier on Saturday as Kildare clung to a 0-19 to 0-18 lead.
Four minutes later it was Callaghan who swung over Kildare’s final point of the game and they survived a late Mayo onslaught to knock out the team that have contested the last two All-Ireland finals.
Amidst the giddiness that engulfed St Conleth’s Park afterwards, Callaghan had no hesitation in ranking this triumph in the context of his career.
“It tops it. Throughout all the years, we’ve had great times and great wins and great days in Croke Park. But to do that here against a team who have been the second best team in the country for a few years now, it was brilliant.
“To get a win over a seasoned team like that in Newbridge after everything that happened, the emotion of the whole day and the atmosphere, it’s definitely the best day I’ve had in my career.
“And I’ve had a few fair years.”
It was a remarkable success for Kildare after a remarkable build-up. The fight to retain home advantage dominated the agenda all week.
In Callaghan’s mind it was a simple debate as he reflected on the trip to Castlebar at the same stage of the championship two years before.
“It was clear for us and very straight forward. It was our home game and this is our home pitch. We played in Castlebar two years ago.
“It was the exact same time of year. I remember going down there and the Mayo crowd, they were outnumbered by ten to one that day. It was crazy.
“I know in the past before we’ve got moved a couple of times and we went down to Portlaoise but it was different this year. We wanted to play here and we were entitled to it. That’s it.
“Why should we have to move? The health and safety, if the ground holds six thousand, that’s grand. We’ll play in front of six thousand. If it holds two thousand, that’s grand.
“It was unanimous from the players. Everyone said Newbridge. And we knew the consequences if it was fixed for Croke Park. We were aware of that.”
The Kildare players responded to the vibrant atmosphere created.
“The crowd here from both sides made it unbelievable. It’s something that wouldn’t have happened in Croke Park, that kind of atmosphere.
“And that’s why we wanted it here. Our home venue. That kind of atmosphere. Play in front of our own crowd on our own pitch.
“It was crazy that anyone would have thought they could take that away from us.”
The success propels Kildare to within one victory of the Super 8s. It’s quite a turnaround from the collapse against Carlow in their Leinster opener.
“That Carlow game was strange,” admits Callaghan.
“And in fairness to Carlow, they played very well that day and they had been playing all year. We just never got up to the pitch of the game that game. We were flat.
“There were a lot of things wrong with our performance. It was completely the opposite to what we had today.
“We got a reaction for those two weeks before the Derry game and things were good against Derry but they weren’t perfect.
“And the same again last week against Longford. We scraped over that game in the last few minutes.
“But we’ve been building since the Carlow game and seem to have turn things around. Our best years have come from qualifier runs. It’s just momentum. Our target was to get back to the Super 8s after the Carlow game.”
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