From relegation to Croke Park final - Kildare hurlers on the up

At the start of the season David Herity decided there would be no big targets set and no big spiel delivered to his Kildare hurlers.

Herity had been given another three years in charge of the county senior team, but a tough league campaign in Division 2A awaited where strong sides like Down, Kerry, Westmeath, and Carlow would provide the opposition.

Without the Naas contingent, who were club-tied until mid-February after their successful All-Ireland club intermediate campaign, the road in front of Herity's men was tough.

"It was, and the key message from the very beginning was just about getting our group together," Herity tells RTÉ Sport.

"We were without 12 Naas players at the start. It was very much facing into an unknown season in Division 2A. We started that with essentially half a panel.

"It was survival mode at that point, and we realised that we really had to use a full squad and give all of them a chance. At training I was able to tell each player who was there that they would start games in the Kehoe Cup and the league, regardless of when the Naas lads came back.

We turned all of that into a positive too. The Under-20s and ourselves started working closely together

"They knew then that they would have game time and it was very simple. Work hard and get your chance. And try to take it. There were days like the very start of the league when we only had 13 players and we had to draw from the Under-20s. But we turned all of that into a positive too. The Under-20s and ourselves started working closely together.

"Lads got games. They saw that if they worked hard there was field time. In turn, we saw young talent that will be coming through and that’s a good indicator for the future.

"There was one stage when we were down 19