ALL-IN-ALL it’s been a fairly positive year for Kildare football at all grades.
Their minors are preparing for the Leinster final, U20s reached the All-Ireland decider and now the senior team are gearing up for a crack at Dublin in the provincial final.
Glenn Ryan’s team were somewhat unconvincing in how they closed out the three-point win over Westmeath in yesterday’s senior semi-final.
For the opening 50 minutes or so they were electric in attack, inspired by Ben McCormack, Daniel Flynn, Darragh Kirwan and Jimmy Hyland who shot 1-16 between them.
In the managerial transition from Jack O’Connor to Ryan, it’s been their attacking play that has generated most dividends. Take Kildare’s last four games across league and championship, they’ve scored 1-20 vs Westmeath, 2-22 vs Louth, 0-18 vs Mayo and 0-24 vs Monaghan.
“That’s their job,” Ryan said of their attack. “You pick forwards to score, you pick defenders to defend, you pick runners to run, so when these fellas are picked to do those jobs, that’s expected of them. But they deserve great credit in a stage like that, to be able to perform those skills and kick some good scores is a great testament to them.”
Looking back on last year’s Leinster final against Dublin, they scored just 1-9 which was never going to take down the Sky Blues. Defensively Kildare were solid yet there was a real disappointment by supporters at their failure to push up and go for the game when Flynn rattled in a 62nd minute goal to bring them within five points.
They are a far better offensive team this year yet in contrast, shipping 2-15 to a Division 3 team will be of concern when Con O’Callaghan, Cormac Costello and Co. roll into town.
“Once we score more than the opposition, we’ll take that,” he said. “If that gets us over the line, so be it. Defensively it starts at 15 and works its way back. We’d happy with the effort and the application to try to work hard and do what they can from a defensive perspective.
“I thought Westmeath played very well and took some great scores. But is it an area we can improve on? You can always improve on your defending.
“Do I think that performance will win us the Leinster final? I doubt it. But on each occasion, whether we won by whatever it was we won by on any given day, if you’re not looking to improve the whole time it’s irrelevant. So it was a performance that got us over the line, kicked some good scores but I’d still be expecting an improvement in all areas for the next day.”
Kildare’s win over Dublin in Division 1 earlier this year should give them added confidence heading into the final in two weeks, even if a balmy Croke Park in May is worlds away from the tight confines of a February afternoon in Newbridge.
“I think there’s a lot of relevance,” said Dessie Farrell after watching his team dismiss Meath with minimal fuss in the other semi-final.
“There’s a lot of momentum behind Kildare football at the minute. The backroom team there are icons in the county. Every supporter in the county I’d imagine is the delighted with who’s in charge and what’s at the helm.
“I think the players are playing with great passion and pride in their jersey. It’s a proud county, always has been traditionally. THere’s definitely something about Kildare this year. We played them in the league and they probably beat us quite comfortably down in Newbridge so that’s definitely a marker for us.
“Kildare will be coming here with high expectations in two weeks time, there’s no doubt about that. Very potent up front, very athletic all over the pitch, seem to be solid in defence as well. It’s going to be a major step up in class and one we need to be ready for. We’re looking forward to it of course and I think it’ll be a great occasion.”
Farrell admitted it was hard to judge his team on that performance given the gulf in class between the sides.
“It’s always difficult to judge when the scoreline, when there is a bit of a difference between the two teams there – it’s hard to know whether it flatters us or were we very good today and Meath had an off day.
“Again, there are defintely elements of the performance you can look into, put there is a lot you probably need to discard as well.
“It’s definitely pleasing. The league was bitterly disappointing for us. There was plenty of time to reflect on where we’re at and what we need to do. From that perspective it’s good to see two consistent performances put back-to-back.”
Dublin do appear to be in far better form than last summer. They’ve had identical routes through he province and in 2021 beat Wexford and Meath by a combined 14 points. This time around that figure stands at 36 points.
“It’s fairly fickle this thing. On the face of it that would be a fair statement and I’d have to agree. But talk to us in two weeks’ time and we’ll tell you where we’re at then. For us it’s about bringing that level of consistency day on day and we need to do that.”
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