A Rainbow All in White He doesn't look much like a footballer at first glance. In fact, if you see him in the Kildare dressing room, stripped down to the bare essentials, he looks more suited to the weigh-room at Punchestown, Fairyhouse or Cheltenham. Anthony Rainbow, 5'11" tall and weighing all of 9 st 10 lbs, is surely Ireland's lightest Senior inter-county footballer. But anyone who has seen Kildare's defensive starlet in action will surely testify that avordupois is not everything in Gaelic Football. Yes, they say it's a big man's game and that you can make a big fella better, but not a small fella bigger! But it doesn't worry Rainbow. His head and his feet do most of the work, the bits in between seem purely for keeping them apart. In a recent Senior Football League game in Kildare, Rainbow's Suncroft tangled with Johnstownbridge. "The Bridge" are one of the most formidable outfits in Kildare football. That afternoon the twenty-year-old wing back was pitted against the experienced and wily Barry O'Donohue. Johnstown supreme and former Kildare boss, Eamonn O'Donohue, was very taken with the youngster's performance. "his reading of the game and timing are excellent," commented Eamonn - as shrewd a judge of footballers as you'll meet. Indeed, since his arrival on Micko's first fifteen, it's that vision and perception of the chance to make a vital interception which has hall-marked Rainbow's performances. When he first appeared on the scene there were all the usual quips. "He's too light, he'll be found out when the going gets tough," we heard. Well, it won't come much tougher than it came against Meath at Pairc Tailteann and in Croke Park or Down at Newbridge and it hasn't happened yet. Gradually the cynics and "knowing ones" who follow Kildare football are taking the lightly built lad from Suncroft to their hearts. Indeed, most of those same hearts must have warmed to the youngster's tour-de-force in St. Conleth's Park recently against no less an opponent than Down's Ross Carr. On his own admission, Anthony Rainbow has been something of a late developer (some development!) At Primary School in the Curragh B.N.S., he first came under the footballing influence of Kerry born schoolmaster, former Suncroft footballer, Mick Doolin still playing away at the tender age of 40! Though nothing of note was won, Anthony is quick to acknowledge Mike as the first to pat a football in his hand. At secondary School in Patrician Brothers, Newbridge, he dropped out of football for a while and drifted to the Underage section of The Curragh R.F.C. under the tutelage of Paddy Butler. Indeed, so well did he adapt to the oval code that he was selected at full back on the Irish Youths team which played against the Irish Schoolboys. But the call of the Gaelic was still strong and under the eagle eye of Kevin Keogh and Brother Bosco, Rainbow made the school team at centre. And a talented Patrician Newbridge crew it turned out to be. With Rainbow's present Kildare team-mate Niall "Nuxer" Buckley switching between midfield and full back the All-Ireland "B" crown was won. That quickly brought Rainbow to the attention of the County Minor selectors who placed him at wing-back on the 1989 Leinster final side. That particular match holds few fond memories for anyone associated with Kildare football. Inexplicably, a team which had done very well up to final day collapsed totally against Offaly. Graduation to the Under 21 crew quickly followed but no major honours accrued. But on the club front things were going somewhat better. 1989 was a milestone year in the history of Suncroft Football Club. That year the men in green and red contested their fourth successive Intermediate final in Kildare. Coaxed and coached by former County Board Vice-Chairman Tony Keogh, the "Croft" finally laid that particular bogey and won their way into Senior ranks. Most of the team had experienced the heart-break of losing three consecutive finals. But it was all new to wing-back Anthony Rainbow, who landed his first Kildare championship medal on that famous day. Strange to relate his old school-master, Mick Doolin, was a team-mate of Anthony's on that Suncroft outfit. Graduation to the Kildare Senior squad was something of a gradual process for the young wing-back. Actually, his first game was against Down at the re-opening and re-dedication of Radley Park, Leixlip. Anthony did quite well, but didn't get the nod for the Championship and was confined to the bench on that awful day in Drogheda when Louth spoiled the party on Micko's "Lily Whites". But he soon surfaced in end of Summer challenge games performing very well against Dublin in Allenwood. By the time the first League game with Kerry came along Anthony Rainbow was part of Kildare's starting fifteen. Since then it's been all downhill for our hero as a series of fine displays have endeared him to the Kildare supporters. His only hiccup has been against Derry in Ballinascreen. On a miserable day when "you wouldn't put out a tar-barrell," with an artic wind carrying sleet down from the slopes of the Sperrins, Rainbow came off at half-time suffering from hypothermia!! It took a while to bring him round but he was back for the next game against Offaly in Athy where he again distinguished himself. A heavy "clatter" in the early minutes of the Meath-match in Navan brought home the harsh realities of top-class inter-county football. But to his credit he battled back and was one of Kildare's best defenders on the day, his immediate opponent, Tony Byrne, being substituted after twenty minutes of play. Against Down in Newbridge he blossomed and from two of his forays into attack came Kildare points. He regards O'Dwyer as a hard task-master but is quick to express a genuine respect even fondness for the Waterville maestro. At the moment he's glad that he did not look beyond the play-offs of the League (tell me a Kildareman who did?), but is hoping for better things in the '92 Championship. While lots of Kildare followers will see this year as make or break for the county, I'm not so sure. Look how long it took the present Meath team and the Offaly team of '82 to break through. The huge population in Kildare must be a bonus. Its rising tide will perhaps float the county's footballing boat. Young lads like Brian Fahy and Ronan Quinn of Leixlip, Niall Buckley of Sarsfields, Round Towers' Glen Ryan, Clane's Martin Lynch, Ballymore's Jarlath Gilroy are all breaking through or have just broken through. They, and indeed Anthony Rainbow, are the foundation on which Micko and whoever succeeds him must attempt to build the resurrection of one of Ireland's great football counties. The Suncroft youngster wants to be there when it happens, he probably will! Taken From Hogan Stand Magazine 03/04/92. Written By "Sean O" Tweet

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