by Paddy Hickey

Carlow football manager Turlough O'Brien has received a major boost with the news that injury victim Danny Moran will be available to line out in Sunday's Leinster quarter-final clash against Kildare.

Less than 15 minute had elapsed in the Barrowsiders' opening round contest against Louth when the experienced corner-back was forced off with an ankle injury, leading to fears that he might miss the Portlaoise tie.

But O'Brien yesterday revealed that Moran has made a full recovery, and so the Tinryland clubman will be among those in consideration when the manager sits down later this week to select his starting fifteen.

"Unfortunately Danny Moran's ankle got caught in the ground and he went over on it," revealed O'Brien on the player's mishap which resulted in Chris Crowley being drafted into the fray.

"But thankfully his injury was not too serious and he missed just one training session since the Louth game, and so he's available for selection for the weekend.

"As well as Danny recovering from his injury, it's an additional boost that Chris Crowley did very well when he brought him on, so he certainly did his selection chances for Sunday no harm.

"Actually, we are very well served in that corner-back position, as we have four players fighting for the jersey and there's only a flick of a coin between all four of them," added O'Brien, who is in his fourth year at the Carlow helm.

In addition to the welcome news concerning Danny Moran, O'Brien understandably takes a lot of heart from his side's convincing 2-17 to 0-12 win over the Wee County.

"We were quite pleased with our performance against Louth, and as a side coming up from Division Four it was very encouraging to take the scalp of a side who had played in Division Two in this year's League," he reflected on the contest against Pete McGrath's charges.

"The first half was close enough, but we still would have been further ahead at half-time, but for shooting seven wides and for our shot selection being a little bit off at times.

"However, in the second half we dominated territorially and on the scoreboard, and the lads will have taken a lot of confidence from the fact that we were comfortable winners in the end.

"I think we have now reached a stage in our development as a team that we're not a push-over for any opposition, and we're certainly looking forward in a big way to the challenge against Kildare.

"And we'll be ready for Kildare just like we were ready for Dublin and Monaghan (in last year's Championship)," he pointed out.

But despite his optimistic view on the forthcoming tie, the Carlow boss is far from underestimating the nature of his side's challenge against Cian O'Neill's outfit.

"Admittedly, Kildare would probably have hoped to put it up more to Dublin in the last few years," he opined on the Lilywhites who will be opening their provincial campaign.

 "But we're still up against opposition who are the second best team in Leinster, and who have been for the past number of years, and they definitely belong among the list of Super 8 teams.

"Kildare are a big strong, mobile and physical team, and they were probably a bit unlucky to be relegated from Division One, as they lost a number of games by a very narrow margin.

"In fact, in one game they had a player sent off (Eoin Doyle against Donegal) for not having his gum-shield in his mouth.

"Our two midfielders, Sean Murphy and Eoin Ruth, performed exceptionally well against Louth, but on Sunday they will be up against two class opponents in Kevin Feely and Tommy Moolick, and that will be a big challenge for them."

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