Kildare's Tailteann Cup opener against Longford will be played in front of just 1,200 fans after the county opted to host the fixture at their centre of excellence in Hawkfield.
Kildare's usual home ground, St Conleth's Park in Newbridge, has been undergoing redevelopment work which will almost double its capacity since March last year, and Glenn Ryan's side have played 'home' fixtures in Kilkenny, Tullamore and Carlow in that time but demand for tickets is expected to be low this Saturday.
The GAA has approved the Hawkfield venue, which regularly hosts the county's hurlers and women's footballers, as the attendance is predicted to be less than 80% of its maximum capacity (1,500).
The Lilywhites only lost by two points to eventual All-Ireland champions Dublin in last year's Leinster semi-final and then reached the preliminary quarter-finals, where they were beaten by Monaghan.
The 2024 campaign has been a miserable one, however. Kildare were relegated after losing all seven of their Allianz Football League Division 2 games, their sole victory coming against Wicklow in the provincial quarter-final before elimination at the hands of Louth last time out.
Almost six years on from beating Mayo in front of a sold-out crowd of 8,200 in the 'Newbridge or Nowhere' qualifier, Kildare now expect to draw less than 15% of that number to their training pitch this Saturday, where they face a Longford outfit that finished mid-table in Division 4.
They will travel to Waterford for their round 2 group game before hosting Leitrim in the final round, at a venue yet to be confirmed.
"It's the first step to try and build a bit of momentum and restore a bit of pride really," he said.
"We're still quite raw from the Louth game but it's an opportunity to put our best foot forward in this competition and we'll certainly be trying to do that.
"You set out at the start of the year to try and play at the highest level of football you possibly can but ultimately we haven't passed the obstacles along the way to do that, so we are where we are.
"We have no choice but to have the right mindset for this going forward. We certainly do and Saturday will be the first test of that.
"Any competition you enter you want to win it. We do want to get back here towards the end of June/July, all going well."
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