'Absolute delight' for Con Kavanagh as Sarsfields lift Kildare SFC title
Con Kavanagh spoke to Daragh Nolan at full-time of the 2026 Joe Mallon Motors Senior Football Championship final
“Absolute delight. Relief, I think, is the main thing. The stress you put yourself under leading up to the game and the last couple of weeks. It's just such a relief when the final whistle blows, really. That's the main feeling,” the words of Sarsfields goal-scorer Con Kavanagh at full-time.
“I was a bit too far up (for the goal). I am never that far up. I just hit and hoped and hit the back of the net.
“I got knocked out by Cathal White afterwards as well,” he laughed. “It just went in so... brilliant.”
There was nothing to separate the Joe Mallon Motors SFC finalists at the break, at 0-6 apiece, and Kavanagh said their half-time stats indicated Sarsfields had two-thirds of the possession.
He continued, “When you have the wind in the first half, any team, you're kind of snatching at shots and not really working them and taking two pointers that maybe weren't on. Against the wind, it's always more suited to us because we've got strong runners and young guys like Karl Hartley, Cathal White, Callum (Bolton). I think it just suits us more.
“Even the last day of the semi-final, we were down against Celbridge and we just backed ourselves. We knew we had the shooters. We weren't too panicky, but we knew we had to improve from the first half, definitely.”
Kavanagh admits that he mind wandered to repeating the sins that saw Naas and Athy by Ross Glavin’s side.
He added, “The first 10 minutes of that second half, we really needed to nail that, and we did, thank God. We had the players, Shea (Ryan) had a brilliant game. Daragh, Ryan, Callum, Matty nicked one at the start of the second half as well, so that really set us up then for the rest of the half.”
Sarsfields, after a long-awaited return to the pinnacle of Kildare football, now have a Leinster Championship campaign to look forward to with their previous endeavours in the provinces not having borne fruit.
“I haven't thought about it yet but I was watching the game last night. Edendork in the Ulster Championship and they only had a week to prepare. We've got two weeks. I think I've played in three Leinster games so far, and I've lost every single one in the first round,” Kavanagh explained.
“So it's something that we really need to nail this time. I know there was a game on at three o'clock. I don't know who the winner was at that.
“Whoever it is (Cuala), there is going to be a tough opposition. Sarsfield haven't been good in Leinster Championship in recent years, so we really need to nail that. We really want to have a go this year, but we’ll enjoy this tonight.”