Kildare native and Cork football legend Larry Tompkins is eagerly looking forward to Sunday's All-Ireland SFC quarter-final between the counties at Croke Park. The Eadestown native, who skippered his adopted county to All-Ireland glory in 1990 before going on to manage the team, said a huge cheer went up in his Cork city pub when the teams were paired together in last Sunday's draw. "There has been plenty of craic since," he said. "It think 1956 was the last time they met. Kildare know they have to improve on the last day. At times the standard of football was terrible and some of the wides that Fermanagh kicked just aren't acceptable at that level. "But sometimes when you get over a game like that they pressure is off and players can relax and maybe play a bit better." Tompkins has been impressed with the way Kieran McGeeney's Kildare side have transformed their season since their disastrous Leinster SFC first round loss to Wicklow in May. "Obviously, Kieran came from a background in Armagh where that was the kind of game plan that worked for them and he is changing a tradition that has been there (in Kildare) for ages, so obviously that takes time. "The fact that they will play four Sundays in-a-row is tough and I don't know why that's the case considering they had such a break since going out of Leinster - it can surely be worked better than that." As for Cork, Tompkins commented: "It's very seldom you see a Kerry team demolished like they were in the second half of the Munster final. "They've been there or thereabouts for the last few years and haven't been that far away." Tweet

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