Mick O'Dwyer knows all about that winning feeling - but yesterday's belated victory with Kildare must have tasted sweeter than most.

"It's a marvellous achievement, no doubt about it," O'Dwyer said. "Our fellas just got into the game and caught it by the scruff of the neck. We just kept it going and that was it."

The wind, at times, put up as much an opposition as Dublin, but that was something Kildare took in their stride.

"In a day of wind you will have people around the middle of the field - it's only natural. But we're a team that can maybe play better into the wind than with it.

"Our sort of game is to hold up the ball and get players running off the ball. It takes a lot of fitness but in fairness we did that fairly well today."

Kildare went into the break three points up. "I just said to them keep playing the way you're playing and we'll win it," O'Dwyer said.

With Dublin making so many positional changes, it was hard for O'Dwyer's men to know who they were marking. Mick Deegan's appearance in attack was a surprise, but Kildare were prepared.

"Anything can happen nowadays," O'Dwyer said. "Players can play anywhere and if other teams want to start switching and changing then that's up to them."

Kildare's strength in the midfield left Dublin reeling. "A lot of people will say that the high catching is gone but there was some great catching in that game today." And all those wides?

"We did all right," was all O'Dwyer had to say on that matter.

Padraig Graven was just one of the Kildare squad enjoying victory for the first time. His equalising point and two significant frees proved decisive.

"It's hard to believe we've done it now but still, all we won was a game of football against Dublin," he said.

"There's two more games to go before a Leinster championship and until then we've no cup to bring home to Kildare.

"It's going to be a big boost to us all the same."