Closing time in Thurles, and Mick O'Dwyer bid us a restless farewell. His last great cause of leading Kildare to ultimate glory was fatally knocked, and that defeat was to Kerry could only partially break the fall. But in the sadness of the final toast O'Dwyer hinted he may yet have one for the road. Maybe it was the broken hearts in the Kildare dressing-room or maybe the colour of the day. Maybe he just wasn't meant to go out like this.

It was as if everything he ever instilled into Kildare had abandoned them. So as Kerry walk suavely on to the All-Ireland quarter-finals, O'Dwyer talked only about these moments of discontent. "Sure, I am disappointed, certainly," he said. "We didn't really perform at all. But losing the provincial final is pretty tough, and we put a lot into that game. The one thing we wanted to do was win the Leinster title, and we came very close.

"And it was very hard to lift the team since then. If we'd got that goal after half-time that hit the upright I suppose we'd have put up a better fight. That was a real downer. But if you don't put your goal chances away, they are the things that can make the difference. It didn't quite work out today, and there's no doubt about that. But sure, Kerry still won out there, and that's the next best thing to Kildare winning."

For O'Dwyer, however, it may be impossible to walk out with such a losing hand. Last year he put the writing on the wall and gave ample advance notice for the epitaphs to be printed. Such was the collapse in Thurles on Saturday he may need one more infusion of success. "Well, I made the decision last year I was packing up in Kildare after this summer." he insisted. "People can speculate now but I made a statement last year, and that's still where I stand.

"I haven't sat down yet to talk to anyone about the future, but only the Man above knows what the future holds for me or for anyone else. And so I'm not about to say now what the future holds for me."

Maybe there is some unfinished business in Kildare. After failing so drastically to match Kerry's challenge, now more than ever this team needs to be handled with care. Dermot Earley was more than his usual head and shoulders above everyone else, though Tadhg Fennin and John Doyle at least rallied until the end.

But elsewhere there were gaping holes in the Kildare spirit. Glenn Ryan's return proved fruitless and the defence suffered. In the second half the rest of the forwards were consistently rotated and yet consistently failed.

When O'Dwyer made it to the Kerry dressing-room to offer his congratulations, there were indeed hints his days may be up. "You guys gave a great performance out there today," he said. "And you truly deserved to win.

"It's my turn to come into your dressing-room, and Páidí was very gracious when he came into our dressing-room in 1998. We got to an All-Ireland final and we've had a great run in Kildare. We've got near the top, and I think that's as much as we could possibly achieve with the players we have here."

He gave one last stirring speech: "But you've got the material. You've got the stuff. And you've got the right man in charge. I've no doubt you'll bring back the Sam Maguire. Don't stop lads. Keep it going and you can win this one. But it won't be easy. There are tough teams out there yet, and don't get run away with this victory. Just stay with it."

For Kerry manager Páidí Ó Sé it couldn't have been more enjoyable. With an eight-point win and a clear sign of spiritual renewal, his team enter the quarter-finals with no less intention than any of the provincial champions. "From the very beginning I think Kerry had a very good attitude coming into this game," he said. "We knew we would be meeting a superbly fit team. Any team that man (Mick O'Dwyer) has ever trained are superbly fit.

From the start, Kerry's l forwards moved with speed and after 30 minutes all but Mike Frank Russell had scored. Colm Cooper's goal after four minutes stood out, but Eoin Brosnan's soloed goal in the second half was the true making of this Kerry victory.

"The Kildare goal before half-time was in one way a blessing in disguise from a Kerry point of view," added Ó Sé. "What it actually did was rekindle our team, and it woke us up another bit. There were no illusions after that what fellas had to do in the second half.

"And after Eoin Brosnan's great run for the goal they gained in confidence too. And I'd say Seamus Moynihan played a big role then. Maybe Martin Lynch did get the upper hand for a lot of the first half, but in the critical period of the second half Seamus really came into his own. And after that we did okay." Others to do more than just "okay" were Darragh Ó Sé, Dara Ó Cinneide and Michael McCarthy. Johnny Crowley came on in the second half and showed for a mountain of ball, finally rewarding himself with a point.

Ó Sé hasn't had this sort of smile on his face for two years, and it looks like he starting to enjoy himself too: "Of course we'll take a bit of satisfaction out of winning this game, and getting into a quarter-final. But look, it's Dublin, Galway or Armagh to come. I mean, we're going into deep waters now. The only good thing is we're still hanging in there, we're still in the championship. I'm happy we've improved since the Munster championship, and there is a better spirit coming into the team."

HOW THEY LINED OUT

KERRY: 1 D O'Keeffe; 2 M Ó Sé, 3 S Moynihan, 4 M McCarthy; 5 T Ó Sé, 6 E Fitzmaurice, 7 J Sheehan; 8 D Ó Sé, 9 D Daly; 10 S O'Sullivan, 11 E Brosnan, 12 L Hassett; 13 M F Russell, 14 D Ó Cinneide, 15 C Cooper. Subs: 19 J Crowley for Russell (43 mins), 18 A MacGearailt for O'Sullivan (44 mins), 17 T O'Sullivan for Fitzmaurice (65 mins), 23 R O'Connor for Ó Cinneide (69 mins).

KILDARE: 1 E Murphy; 2 B Lacey, 3 G Ryan, 4 K Doyle; 5 K Duane, 6 D Hendy, 7 A Rainbow; 8 K Brennan, 9 D Earley; 10 E McCormack, 11 J Doyle, 12 R Sweeney; 13 T Fennin, 14 M Lynch, 15 P Murray. Subs: 22 D McCormack for McCormack (23 mins), 20 P Brennan for D McCormack, 23 P Hurley for Brennan (50), 17 K O'Dwyer for Murray (60), 18 T Harris for O'Dwyer (63).

Booked: Kerry: S Moynihan (22 mins), T Ó Sé (26 mins), C Cooper (39 mins), D Ó Sé (60 mins). Kildare: K Doyle (27), B Lacey (39), M Lynch (60).