Kildare are ticking a lot of the right boxes in their quest to maintain their Allianz Division 1B hurling status, according to former Tipperary player Shane McGrath.
Last year's Joe McDonagh champions, who came up from Division 2, were always going to find 1B a step-up in class and so it has proven, with a sobering 15-point opening-day loss to Dublin and battling performance in defeat to Clare at the weekend.
Sandwiched in between however was a commanding win over Antrim, a "four-pointer" as manager Brian Dowling described it afterwards.
With games against winless Down and a home outing against Carlow, another victory would put them in a strong position with Kildare scrapping with the Barrowsiders and Antrim to avoid joining the Mourne men in Division 2 next season.
Speaking on the RTÉ GAA podcast , McGrath believes that Kildare, who will be operating in the Leinster championship this year, are making strong progress under Dowling, aided by Naas' prominence in the Leinster club hurling championship
"Are Kildare happy where they are? Probably not because Brian Dowling wants to be winning all the time," he said.
"They knew that this was going to be tough. I think the aim has to be to stay in 1B. Have they ticked a lot of the boxes to stay in 1B so far? Absolutely they have.
"They have beaten who they felt they should have beat and learned from playing against the top tier teams."
McGrath believes that Dowling, who won two Celtic Crosses during his playing career with Kilkenny, is further enhancing his glowing reputation.
"Brian Dowling is building up a really nice CV to be in the mix to be a Kilkenny manager," McGrath said. "What he has done with Kilkenny camogie, he’s involved with St Kieran’s College.
"What he has done with Kildare in the last couple of years, he’s ticking all the boxes for me as a manager. He has created a really good culture there. You are seeing that in their performances."
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