'Lucky' Kildare Chairman Mick Mullen is one very happy buachaill

Mick Mullen may be just a little over six months into his role as Kildare County Board Chairman but he has seen so much progress on many fronts in that time, that these days when we bump into one another he has a great grin of satisfaction on his feasóg, not in fairness, that he is taking any credit for what has been achieved in this year of 2025.

We met Mick at the Meet & Greet evening for the hurlers prior to the final of the Joe McDonagh Cup and again a couple of weeks ago prior to the Tailteann Cup and I suggest to him that he could go down as a 'Lucky Chairman.'

“Maybe” he replied with a laugh, adding “but chairmen don't go out on the field and play, but it is great to see so many kids out on the field meeting all the players and the players have responded brilliantly giving of their time for autographs and pictures and the like, it is very important that the players do that” insisted the smiling Celbridge club man.

Admitting that we are coming to the end of the inter-county season Mr Mullen said “that both adult teams (hurling and football) have reached their league finals; both have reached national championship finals, which is an absolute fantastic achievement for both sets of players.

“There is a huge group of players and mentors in both groups, over fifty on each when you add in the backroom people, a huge amount of work has gone into both, yes it is my first year but remember a lot of work has gone on before me, people like Ger Donnelly, Mick Gorman, John McMahon (RIP) and all the people that make Kildare what it is today.

“Last year was not fantastic for us but you can see the difference in one year and how people react, people do things in different ways, you are winning games and the smile on people's faces, all brilliant.”

Of course off the field of play, the real bonus has been the opening of the redeveloped Cedral St Conleth's Park and the chairman says that seeing people socialising in the Cedral Lounge, people that normally, remember the Birds' Nest as you use to call it, you would get a few up there but now go into the Cedral Lounge and you meet everybody there from every corner of the county, you talk and discuss hurling and football, it is all great, brilliant.

And some great games in St Conleth's in the short time it is open?

“It has been fantastic that Kildare after some thirty years waiting for championship matches we now have gotten a flood of games, it is fantastic that we can show off our grounds and our facilities and anyone that has come has been thrilled with both the reception that have got and with the facilities we have to offer.

“The dressing rooms are second to none, I think our dressing rooms we have surpassed Croke Park; we had the All-Ireland Minor Football final last week (Kerry v Tyrone); then we are back to Croke Park for the Tailteann Cup final and while it has taken us a while to finally win in Croker we have got over that and now can look forward to taking on Limerick.”

Great times to be involved with Kildare, for both hurling and football, added the Chairman, and so much to look forward to already in 2026 and beyond.

Lucky Chairman?

We will know that come Saturday afternoon.

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