Emmet Moloney writes for the 'The Irish Farmers Journal' and is a former sports columnist with 'The Kerryman'.

Croke Park’s first full house of the season was a long time coming but like a bus, there could be another following, writes Emmet Moloney...

Down versus Kildare in a Croke Park semi-final is a novel pairing and one that captures the imagination a lot quicker than Dublin against Cork. While Down and Kildare have both appeared in All-Ireland finals as recently as the 1990s, neither is a regular at this juncture. They have both come from nowhere this summer to stand at the precipice of a final – and a winnable one at that because Cork won’t frighten either of them.

It’s been a very strange year for football. We had the usual suspects preparing to duke it out in the latter stages before Down and Kildare in particular took out Kerry and Meath. Poor provincial campaigns were put behind them and now they arrive in the last four with a real head of steam.

Compare this to Cork’s journey to the All-Ireland final. Has a team ever looked so toothless in reaching the decider? The Rebels have had a lifeless July and August, yet here they are. Falling over the line against Limerick, eventually putting a limited Roscommon out of their misery and gratefully accepting Dublin’s hara-kiri in the last few minutes of last Sunday’s bizarre semi-final.

Dublin’s indiscipline handed the match to the Rebels but they were still slow to take it. Some of their shooting was almost Mayo-esque. What has happened to this squad? Will they repair their damaged psyche in time? That’s Conor Counihan’s job and I don’t envy him.

You can’t but envy the Lilywhite supporters this weekend. Devoted and positive, they will travel in big numbers, short (and expensive) as the journey is. This is where counties like Kildare belong. Ambitious enough to be the first to send for Micko, they bring a romance to the football championship. Usually dogged by that common ailment that afflicts forwards, making them kick harmless wides and tentative shots into a goalkeeper’s hands, Kildare are the type of team that the GAA loves to love, and then give out about.

Possession was never a problem for the Lilywhites; doing something with the ball when they got it was where things went awry. Football is littered with great players who never won All-Ireland medals but in recent times Kildare have added people like Glen Ryan and Anthony Rainbow to that list. Wholehearted players who would try all day, but always ended up getting creased by bogey men from Meath and/or Dublin.

Enter Kieran McGeeney. Like Micko back in 1998 and 2000, the Armagh man carries a certain something with him. Is it bravado, intensity, sheer belief or just good luck? Whatever, it is working and he has turned Kildare into a serious football team that can still waste plenty of possession but comfortably win games. Johnny Doyle is their scorer-in-chief but he is prone to the odd lapse or two. Like Kildare of old, they can work the ball slowly with the overused hand-pass, but now and again they go long early. Both strategies are paying off. An impressive 2-17 was banked against Meath and Derry, with 1-15 against Monaghan in between. Those are decent tallies. The timing of their first qualifier against Antrim (in the middle of the emotional funeral of Dermot Earley Snr) might explain their lethargy that night. Since that replay, McGeeney has had them humming.

Then we throw Down into the mix. The team that has never lost an All-Ireland senior final and the team that always beats Kerry. Proud records both and it’s obvious that they mean something to the Mournemen because it was hard to see the Kerry performance coming. Down won that game playing with a positive attitude – one that can make Gaelic football a joy to watch.

Even when they suddenly realised that the All-Ireland champions were there for the taking, they kept playing their attacking game. The Kingdom were never a side that threw too many extra players behind the ball, relying a lot in this department on Paul Galvin to win ball and the Ó Sés to keep the flanks intact, so Down saw the weaknesses and went for it.
I’m not sure if that will happen on Sunday. Kildare adopt McGeeney’s version of the swarm defence and do it well, having the strength and fitness to start shuffling up the field once the ball has been regained.

Benny Coulter and Martin Clarke are Down’s twin threats. Coulter has been a lethal forward for years, always illuminating matches with killer goals – the type all forwards should be on the lookout for. A master at beating just one man before blasting to the net. When he gets the ball, Kildare must have a second man behind his first direct opponent or he will hurt them. But McGeeney has seen enough of Coulter to know his danger. I’d be very surprised if the Lilywhites aren’t ready for Benny.

Martin Clarke is this year’s Tadhg Kennelly – but in a good way. He returned from a stint in Aussie Rules last autumn to play for Down after making quite an early impression over there and, unlike Kennelly, is still a young fella at just 22. He is also a footballer in the pure sense. Tall, strong and skillful, Clarke is the type of player that carries a team for that 10 or 15 minutes when they hit the wall.

When a free must be won close in, Clarke will solo 50 yards to get it; when a score has to be registered, it will come from him and when a goal is badly needed, he knows where Coulter can be found. Marking a man as good as Clarke is a tall order for the full 70 minutes.
Gaelic football is not straightforward in 2010. Chess games are now been fought out by managers at the highest level with tactics taking precedence over reckless abandon. McGeeney has an easier task here because Down’s twin towers are the secret to stopping them, while rookie manager James McCartan doesn’t really know who Kildare’s match winners are.

That’s the beauty of this Kildare set-up. On some days, Johnny Doyle can do it from play as well as placed balls, while James Kavanagh and Eoghan O’Flaherty can also look like All Stars. Then there are other days when the three of them can be eclipsed by Ronan Sweeney, Eamonn Callaghan and Alan Smith. The only guarantee with this team is effort – honest and total.

This is why Kildare look the part to manage without Dermot Earley and reach the final. They have the defensive work rate of no other and a confidence in front of goal like never before. Throw in all the emotional baggage and this is the neutral’s team to cheer.

To catch Emmet's latest column, get 'The Irish Farmers' Journal' every Thursday...