There were emotional scenes in Hawkfield tonight where Kildare legend Anthony Rainbow played his last game for his beloved Suncroft.

Sadly, the sprightly 41-year-old's remarkable career didn't have a fairytale ending as Suncroft's 0-9 to 0-12 defeat to Ballymore Eustace in the Kildare SFC relegation final means they have been demoted to the intermediate ranks for 2014.

A tweet from Suncroft GFC tonight read: "End of a era #Rainbow - on behalf of the Club Anthony thanks for the wonderful memories for Club, County and Country."

The current Carlow manager played senior football for Kildare for almost 20 years, announcing his retirement after the Lilywhites' heart-breaking 2010 All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Down. The half back won two Leinster medals in 1998 and 2000, was an All Star recipient in '98 when Kildare lost the All-Ireland final to Galway and also represented Ireland in the International Rules series in 2001. Tweet

Most Read Stories