KILDARE came through 70 energy-sapping minutes of intense championship football last Saturday. Derry faced a similar high-octane examination the following afternoon.

But should those 24 hours make all the difference? In strictly physiological terms, of course not.

However, football matches are won in the head every bit as much as the body, and Lilywhite minds appear in rude good health approaching their latest 'back door' adventure in Croke Park.

Looking from the outside in, the same can hardly be said of Derry.

It's easy to find sympathy with John Brennan's cause. The mere six days afforded Ulster's beaten finalists scarcely qualifies as fair when you consider that Cork have enjoyed a three-week hiatus to get over their Munster final defeat by Kerry and prepare for this evening's collision with Down on the same Croke Park stage.

DOUBLE-WHAMMY

Throw-in the double-whammy loss of his two deadliest forwards, Paddy and Eoin Bradley, and the legitimate Derry penalty claim ignored by Maurice Deegan last Sunday, and you've got plenty of excuses for the Oak Leafers to wallow in self-pity this week.

But that would be a fatal mistake, and it behoves their manager to banish all talk of six-day turnarounds or cruciate curses or Portlaoise referees in the one place that matters -- his Derry dressing-room.

"We are only small fish in a big ocean," Brennan argued this week. "It is unfair and there's no reason why Ulster couldn't bring their final forward by at least one week to give beaten finalists an extra seven days to prepare."

Incredibly, in the 10-year history of the qualifiers, only one team has bounced back from provincial final defeat to win a qualifier the following week.

That was in 2001 when Dublin overwhelmed Sligo a week after losing to Meath in the inaugural year of the qualifiers. Dublin's then manager, Tom Carr, clearly has no time for bosses proffering the six-day excuse: he was quoted yesterday as saying this was a "cop-out by teams", adding: "Teams went out for years with no second chance in the qualifiers so they should shut their mouths and grab the opportunity in front of them while they can."

Even if Derry heads are right, however, this is a huge ask against a team with such impeccable 'back door' credentials.

Kildare were not at their best last Saturday and still had the mindset to recover from a dodgy 25 minutes after half-time when Meath reeled them in and then threatened to push on to victory.

The Lilywhites didn't panic in the home straight. Their legendary fitness reserves were there to see in the last 10 minutes. And while marauding wing-back Emmet Bolton emerged as their prolific game-breaker, substitutes made a discernible difference too -- check out Brian Flanagan's block on Joe Sheridan with the sides level, and especially the creative role of James Kavanagh in the 1-2 scoring salvo that broke Royal hearts.

The Kildare team was announced yesterday morning and it was unusual to see Kavanagh omitted for the third weekend running.

Based on what he has delivered coming off the bench against Laois (scoring 1-1) and then against Meath, the All Star nominee has rediscovered his 'mojo' and is surely worth a start.

Maybe it's a dummy team but, against that, Kieran McGeeney often displays loyalty to a winning team and he may also feel Kavanagh can produce more when the game has opened up.

Either way, this game looks Kildare's for the taking. It's true that Derry possess some giant ball-winners in the middle-third, but the Lilywhites have compensated for the loss of Hugh Lynch (cruciate injury) with the return of Daryl Flynn, who put in an energy-bursting shift against Meath.

Defensively, Kildare's full-back line continues to impress -- Mick Foley is enjoying a particularly standout summer -- and you've got to measure their form against Derry's toothless Ulster final display in the absence of Eoin Bradley.

Derry only scored eight points over 70 minutes.

Their first-half shooting was particularly wild, with the notable exception of centre-back Charlie Kielt, while James Kielt was their only second-half scorer. Previously in-form players such as Mark Lynch, Conleith Gilligan and Enda Muldoon had a peripheral influence when faced by Donegal's all-consuming blanket.

Leaving aside all the six-day palaver, the Ulster men don't look equipped to take out a team with the back-door pedigree and powerful momentum of Kildare.

ODDS: Kildare 1/4, Draw 10/1, Derry 4/1

VERDICT: Kildare

KILDARE: S Connolly; A Mac Lochlainn, M Foley, H McGrillen; G White, M O'Flaherty, E Bolton; J Doyle, D Flynn; P O'Neill, E O'Flaherty, E Callaghan; R Kelly, T O'Connor, F Dowling.

DERRY: TBC.

- Frank Roche