Never short of an anectode or two, Tomás Ó Sé recalls a moment of light relief from 18 years ago in today's Irish Independent.

Looking ahead to Kildare's Leinster SFC quarter-final clash with Wexford this evening, the Kerry great rewinds the clock to 1998 when writing: "It's August 1998 and I'm sitting in a Kerry hearse headed for Heuston Station, bull heads on every one of us after losing an All-Ireland semi-final to Kildare.

"Páidí at the front with a face that could stop clocks, me not far behind him, practically growling. I'd got a bit of a hosing down in Cork earlier that year and never made it back on the team. Ended up feeling about as useful as a square football. Anyway, we've no garda escort here for company when, suddenly, a big Merc stops us in our tracks.

"And out jumps this lunatic from the driver's seat to do a little victory jig in front of the bus.

"Now it wouldn't take much for the bulls to charge here, except some of us recognise the lunatic's face. "For f**k sake, look who it is!" It's Dermot Cox, known to many of us as an absolute gent, a successful businessman and a mad Kildare supporter who had a house in Dingle.

"So here he is in a Dublin street now, doing this Cherokee war dance in front of us.

"And whatever it is about the way he does it, don't we take a fit of giggling in the bus. Because there's nothing nasty intended here. Dermot's just beyond himself with happiness at the thought of Kildare playing in an All-Ireland final.

"When I think now of the fanaticism of Kildare's supporters, I automatically have Dermot Cox's smiling face in my head. Anyone who was there in '98 will remember the colour (blizzard white) they brought to that summer.

"I look at Kildare now and it's hard to believe that so little was built on the back of that final appearance. It's as if the defeat to Galway just negated everything. In recent times, they were certainly competitive under Kieran McGeeney's management, but crucially, won nothing.

"And right now I'm just not sure they're made of the right stuff to have an impact in this Championship.

"Put it this way, the concession of seven goals to Kerry last August set new standards for naivety in an era when most inter-county teams have some semblance of a sound defensive plan. And having watched them lose to Clare in last month's Division 3 final, I'm just not convinced that that naivety is gone.

"Clare might easily have scored another four goals that night. Sometimes Kildare's defending looks to me as if it's done in a constant state of panic.

"They should have been home and hosed against Clare, but just didn't have the game-management to see it out.

"I've heard people say they should never have been in Division 3, but why? Remember, they didn't just lose that final, they lost a tight game above in Sligo too.

"They get opened up far too easily for my liking and that's why Wexford will feel they have a decent chance here."

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