JAMES & THE GIANT REACH

Burke believed Kildare could make it to big stage & his faith has now paid off in spades

- BY GARRY DOYLE

KILDARE hurling has always carried a sense of stubborn optimism.

It's the sort that survives on back roads, in ball alleys lit by car headlights and in conversations that begin with “maybe someday...”.

For a long time, that someday felt like a distant landmark.

Counties like Kildare are supposed to know their place. Enjoy the days out. Take your medicine when the big boys arrive.

But sport has a habit of ignoring the script when enough people refuse to accept it.

What has unfolded in Kildare over the past decade has been neither neat nor linear.

There have been promotions and drops, seasons of promise followed by hard resets, and afternoons that left more questions than answers.

Yet here they are now, preparing for a Leinster championship campaign that once lived only in imagination.

Liam MacCarthy hurling is no longer a talking point or a hope; it is next summer's reality.