Snow-blind in summer. The old slope of Hill 16 looked as if it had frosted over. The high stands looked as if a blizzard had lashed their upper climbs. And the roar, it broke like thunder over the dappled Croke Park turf. Kildare were reborn and the future is white.

Access to their first All-Ireland final since 1935 was secured yesterday in a performance of unlikely confidence against a Kerry side which came to town with pedigree and short odds on their side.

The All-Ireland final on the last Sunday in September is thus a novel affair. Galway, without an All-Ireland win in 32 years, play Kildare, who haven't one in 70 years. With both counties fancying their chances, tickets will be as rare as hens' teeth. The presence of Kildare in yesterday's game was largely responsible for the attendance of 65,002, the biggest Croke Park attendance of the season.

There were odd little angles to the football story of the summer. Kildare played without the services of their best player, Niall Buckley, who suffered an injury flare-up on Saturday night. In midfield in his stead was Dermot Earley, namesake and son of Kildare's previous manager. Their current boss, Mick O'Dwyer, one of the engineers of Kerry's football eminence, assuredly plotted his home county's downfall yesterday.

His son Karl, transplanted from Kerry, where he was a bit player, was the pivot of the Kildare full-forward line.

On an afternoon when Maurice Fitzgerald departed from the sublime form of recent seasons and missed three kickable frees, O'Dwyer, the best man at his wedding, nonchalantly popped over a couple from long range and one from play.

Karl O'Dwyer's revival is symbolic of his adopted county's growth. This summer Kildare have dismissed the three leading football franchises - Dublin, Meath and Kerry.

Yesterday was precisely the sort of game they would have thrown away in Mick O'Dwyer's first term in charge in Kildare. Kerry, though outplayed, never lost touch and a goal from John Crowley midway through the second half brought them back to within a point. Kildare, who would once have swooned in the heat at that stage, coolly scored three of the next four points.

The Kildare success was based, not surprisingly, on their manager's tactical nous. His son, deployed nominally at full forward, pulled out towards the 45-metre line, leaving prairies of space for his more athletic companions to gallop into. Fitzgerald, last year's footballer of the year, was marked by the leading contender for this year's award, Brian Lacey. The Kerryman never even put Lacey's nose out of joint. And at midfield, Earley played with pedigree if not experience.

O Se ignore the looming possibility of scoring an early goal to knock over an easy point. He might have had cause to regret his caution. Having absorbed some confident Kerry play in the first fifteen 15 minutes, or so Kildare found their groove just as it was becoming apparent that Maurice Fitzgerald had lost his.

John Finn and Martin Lynch knitted together a couple of points to bring Kildare level. Then Fitzgerald knocked one kickable free into the goalkeeper's arms and hit the post with another. Sensing the blood in the water, Kildare added a successful free kick of their own to lead by a point at half-time.

After the break it was time for Kildare to give a practical demonstration of all that the years of blight and pestilence have taught them. "We have this attitude now, digging deep," said wing back Anthony Rainbow afterwards. As Kildare's absent hero, Buckley, noted, the image of Kildare as being soft and windy was laid to rest at last. "We have shown that when it comes to the crunch we don't lie down any more."

Kildare's triumph wrapped up a memorable weekend when the All-Ireland champions in hurling and football were deposed. Clare laid their title on the line once again on Saturday in the seemingly never-ending saga of their hurling semi-final with Offaly in Thurles.

The game - refixed after the debacle of the previous week, when the final minutes evaporated in a puff of human error - proved the best of the season, with Offaly, the defeated Leinster finalists, hitting a streak of form which would have seemed impossible to anyone who witnessed their dismal early-season form.

In between times they jettisoned their manager, Michael "Babs" Keating, after a nasty public row in the wake of the Leinster final. Their new manager, Michael Bond, a little-known Galwayman, has tapped into some dormant part of their psyche.

"These are the same people who lost the Leinster final," he said, "the same team. They always had this in them. They just needed to get this out. They are playing the way I always knew they could."

Offaly have just two weeks to prepare for the All-Ireland final, which will be a rerun of their Leinster final clash with their bitter rivals Kilkenny.

For Clare, the most tumultuous summer in their history ended in tears. The team which have flirted with controversy all summer took the defeat with the grace of great champions, however.

"If you hear anybody from Clare complaining," said manager Ger Loughnane, "they don't represent Clare hurling."

Peace restored to the GAA world, we await the final acts.