Kildare and Sligo aim for Under 20 football final glory to cement progress

Saturday's Eirgrid Under-20 All-Ireland football final brings together two tribes who have been working relentlessly towards their respective goals for some time.

It’s a first U20 decider for the Yeats County and only the fifth time ever for a Sligo team to reach an All-Ireland final in any grade.

But there is so much precise work and development ongoing in the county that it's no surprise this fine young team has reached a national final.

From schools' success with St Attracta’s and Summerhill and recent minor wins to historic back-to-back Connacht titles for this band of under 20s, Sligo football is thriving.

And not forgetting that their senior side reached the Connacht senior final this season and will soon attend to their business in the round robin series of the All-Ireland championship.

These days there is a strong pathway for all Sligo footballers to follow. Nineteen of the current senior squad were part of the panel that won the 2021 Connacht U17 championship.

Fourteen of the panel featured on the field in Sligo’s Connacht U20 championship success last year. And this year’s crop know that they will also get a chance to break into Tony McEntee’s set-up, providing they keep hitting all the right benchmarks.

Kildare, too, have been foraging desperately hard to get a national title at this level. The county has won just six All-Irelands across senior (four), Under 21/20 (two, most recently in 2018) and minor (none).

They are blessed to have a fine young manager in former county player Brian Flanagan, who is heavy on detail and works countless hours behind the scenes to present his team in the best possible fashion.

After his playing career came to a premature end in 2014 at the age of 29 due to a persistent knee injury,