Despite a poor league and relegation from Division 2, midfield general Kevin Feely is adamant that Kildare can play a big role in this year's All-Ireland football championship.
The 33-year-old is still the main source of power in Kildare’s engine room and admits that the team felt confident of holding their second-tier status at the start of the league.
Relegation therefore from Division 2 was a blow, with the Lilywhite skipper not making any excuses for falling through the trapdoor.
"We lost seven senior players but that’s not an excuse because we knew from before Christmas that some of those lads wouldn’t be back," he said. "We had an opportunity to adapt to that, but we didn’t do it well enough on the field.
"Outside of myself, there’s a three-year age gap to the next oldest lad, but I look on that as an opportunity now. I am hoping that a few lads who have come in over the past two to three years will now step into leadership roles and this championship is a huge chance for these lads to do that."
Feely has been a reassuring presence for Kildare for over a decade after coming home from the UK where he spent three seasons as a professional footballer for Charlton Athletic, AFC Wimbledon and Newport County, winning an Irish under-21 cap along the way.
His side picked up three points from their first two games in Division 2 before losing the following five on the spin. Feely is in no doubt where their season unravelled.
"The Derry game was a turning point," he states.
"We were so close for so long and had a big wind advantage in the second half, but Derry got the win and it turned their season around whilst ours went the other way. From there we were very flat against Cavan and confidence was low.
"For periods in the Louth game and in the second half against Cork, I thought we battled really hard, showed resilience and got back near the levels we would want. And now we are hoping to build on that."
This Sunday afternoon they meet a Laois side in Newbridge; a rare fixture in championship football, and one that could swing either way with an Evan O’Carroll-inspired Laois soaring on the back of a nine-point defeat of Offaly last weekend.
Injuries have really hampered Kildare thus far this season, but Feely says the squad conducted a 'deep dive’ into the league campaign and were intent on working on those.
"If you focus too much on the bare fact of relegation and being back in Division 3 next year it would be hard to turn the mindset around," he says.
"But we looked for more detail around those last few displays in the league and we found something to build on; to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
"We are left wanting for nothing as a team. What we have in the management set up is as good as any in the country and in terms of S&C, medical and coaching and management the set-up is as good as it can be.
"It’s just a case of us stepping up now. Maybe there is this sense out there that we are a young team, but hopefully the learnings from that league campaign will knock us into gear and force us to kick on."
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