THE STARS ARE aligned for Kildare to face their former manager Kieran McGeeney in the qualifiers according to former Kildare captain Johnny Doyle.
With the Lilywhites losing the Leinster final this afternoon, they will be coming through the back door to keep their championship alive, and will be drawn against either Armagh or Monaghan tomorrow morning.
Speaking to The42′s Fintan O’Toole in Croke Park after the game, Doyle said, laughing, that “it’s inevitable” that the draw will pit the Kildare team against their former manager.
“As the stars align it’s surely gonna be Armagh. And there’ll be the whole circus around Geezer. I was talking to him on the way in and I was saying ‘are you coming down to make notes?’
And he said: ‘Oh no, I wouldn’t like to get Kildare’.
The usual mind games with Geezer. ”
Kieran McGeeney managed Kildare to an All-Ireland semi-final in 2010, and to a division two league title in 2012, with Doyle as captain. He took over as manager of his home-county two years ago.
During the live video on Facebook, Doyle also spoke about how the Kildare camp would have been feeling going into the game against the reigning All-Ireland champions, despite being the underdogs.
“You’re not that long gone out of the dressing room so you know the emotion the lads are going through. The hurt they’re feeling. Regardless of what we talked about, or what the general public talked about all week, they only thought about winning.”
A few Kildare men stood out during the game, such as Athy’s Kevin Feely, who saw a black card in the second half, and full-forward Daniel Flynn, who scored some impressive points.
Doyle said that Kildare have the characters in the squad who will be able to push on and make a go of this championship still.
“We’ve a few really strong characters in the team. The likes of Eoin Doyle who, it wasn’t common knowledge but I knew earlier in the week, he’d broken his thumb but yet strapped it up. He won huge amount of possession. That sort of character we have in the team.”
The draw for round 4b of the qualifiers will take place on RTÉ Radio 1 at 8.30am tomorrow.
