Paul Durcan was five years old the last time Sligo played in Croke Park. Many of his Sligo team-mates weren't even born. But sure no one is arguing that 1975 seems like a long time ago.

Imagine then the smiles around Sligo when Croke Park was named the venue for tomorrow's double bill of round three championship qualifiers.

It may have become Kildare's home-away-from-home in recent years and Galway v Armagh may be the headline act, yet this is exactly the kick that Sligo's championship revival needed.

Durcan has little memory of his visit 26 years ago but he has been thinking about playing in Croke Park more or less ever since. It is also an opportunity to put things right as he and the team know their Connacht run was another one of under-performance.

"Of course any team would be down after a loss and it was hard to get over the Mayo game," he says. "In the past it would have been the end of our summer. This is like starting a whole new championship, so you have to approach this game in the same way.

"And from now on there is no back door. It's as big a game as the semi-final. We took most of the week off after losing to Mayo and got back into training that Friday night. And then all thoughts turned to the Carlow game, and it wasn't long until we forgot about Mayo.

"A championship game is still a championship game and we didn't take Carlow lightly. They were going well but we got the result we wanted."

Sligo now meet a Kildare side heading into their third championship game in as many weeks, but Durcan is not so sure how that effects a team. Some seem to rise to it and others seem to fall but there are greater demands on players in such a short space of recovery.

"If a player picks up even a small knock then a week is not much time to recover. With two weeks you have a much better chance of getting all the players out. And so I suppose we will be the fresher team.

"But you're only as fresh as your mind is. It's all about being mentally prepared as much as physically. It's well known now that practically every county at this level has more or less the same level of fitness but you have to be mentally right. We didn't take all our chances against Mayo but we took all our chances against Carlow. That helps to get you right."

Needless to say, this is the first championship meeting between the two counties. Kildare supporters will arrive in their usual masses on the back of the sensational win over Donegal last weekend, but Sligo have enough inspiration of their own.

"I know all the players are looking forward to this. One more win here and we're back at the same stage as Mayo, and only a couple of games behind Roscommon. I was looking at the Connacht final on Sunday. We were close to Mayo when we met and Mayo were close to Roscommon.

"In the first half against Mayo we definitely missed those couple of goal chances and everything could have been different but that's football. The thing now is that we're still in there and we have to make the most of it."

Durcan is also sure that the safety net of the qualifying route in no way reduced their focus on the Mayo game: "When you come to any provincial game like that it's all about winning. You're always out to beat your neighbours. It was just nice to get another game and not have to wait another year.

"But it's a bit early yet to say this qualifier series has been a total success. The schedule is demanding and we've seen a few counties suffer but it's not an easy job to fit all these fixtures in."