By Daragh Ó Conchúir
“I think Kildare should be right up there. There’s not really that much interest in the other sports. The only thing really competing with the GAA in Kildare is the horse racing but you can’t get a horse to play football.”
I don’t know just how much time Kieran McGeeney has put into thinking about Sea The Stars’ best position but the 38-year-old was putting Kildare in the same bracket as Kerry and South Armagh when making the above statement.
In these regions, football is sacrosanct. The difference between Kerry and Kildare might be that a young lad is told in Kerry he will win an All-Ireland some day. Here, it will be that he will play with the club.
That’s a mindset McGeeney has set about changing but there is a way to travel yet.
Losing to Louth in Sunday’s O’Byrne Cup semi-final isn’t a mas¬sive issue but Kildare should have won and there were a few disap¬pointing elements to the game. They only played in spurts and the combination play was poor. They held onto possession too long and carried it into the tackle. When the delivery did arrive, it was too high or too wide.
The indiscipline in the tackle was a massive disappointment given how much work goes into that. Bri¬an Flanagan, who was flying and is now seen as a real leader, could have no argument about his sending off. Management felt they couldn’t take a chance with Emmet Bolton on a yellow and substituted him. Seven Louth points were scored from frees and if Darren Clarke had been play¬ing, it would have been more.
The heads dropped after the con¬cession of the late goal. They were still only two points behind. That suggests the minds have gone a bit soft, or maybe that they didn’t feel like digging deep for the O’Byrne Cup.
A lot of this stuff was happen¬ing last year, and a lot of it hap¬pened right through the league. It wasn’t until the championship came around that the pattern of play real¬ly clicked in.
“We’re trying some things at training,” said McGeeney. “We’re putting pressure on some of the young lads without breaking them. All those things have to add up. It’s an amalgamation of things. If it was one simple thing that you had to get right, we’d just work on that but it’s not. It’s 60 or 70 little things that you keep having to work on to make that breakthrough.”
There might be an expectation that Kildare should be better now but you need games. And you can’t be missing Mikey Conway, Eamonn Callaghan, Johnny Doyle, James Kavanagh, Hugh McGrillen, Morgan O’Flaherty and Alan Smith. Most of the key personnel for how Kildare played last summer are in that list.
Callaghan (groin) and Conway (knee) are expected to start jogging shortly, while Kavanagh came on last Sunday. McGrillen will be available for the first time against Down after his college commitments and O’Flaherty will have his appeal heard this week.
Smith’s departure from the panel has surprised many but management is doing its best to help one of the country’s finest inside forwards to rediscover his appetite for the game.
If he’s ready to give it his all, he will be welcomed back with open arms because Kildare needs Smithy terrorising corner-backs.
Paul Grimley isn’t around either. McGeeney and selector Carew admit freely that he is a loss for he is a brilliant coach and a strong personality. Some supporters are concerned by reports of a ‘bust up’ in the dressing room at half-time last Sunday. Welcome to inter-county football – these are men, involved in a serious endeavour and if it’s only the management insisting on certain standards, you’re going nowhere.
I‘m not in the camp that thinks promotion is imperative. Only three years ago, Kildare were in the semi-final of Division 1 and what followed? Defeats to Meath and Louth, when it counted.
Division 2 is very competitive and given the problems Kildare have right now according to McGeeney, he has 22 out of 33 players availablemaintaining their status wouldn’t be bad at all.
“Martin Clarke is back for (Down). He is deadly accurate and we are giving away too many free kicks at the minute. (St Conleth’s Park) is a tight pitch and that is a recipe for giving away too many scores.
“(Martin’s) brother John is back, and young (Paul) McComiskey is back in the corner. They didn’t have these players last year and that is going to free (Benny) Coulter up and Coulter is an exceptionally talented player.”
There will be a big onus on Kildare’s middle third to prevent Dan Gordon and Ambrose Rogers gaining primary possession and supplying such talent. And when the ball gets in, the tackling must be more disciplined.
Given the personnel that will be missing on Sunday, this could be a tough one. A draw would be a good result but it might not be on offer.
A win in Semple Stadium against a Tipp side that was playing Division 4 two years ago is a must. Donegal are McKenna Cup champions but by March 7, Kildare should be in better nick to take a home win.
McGeeney graced Crossmaglen many times as a player and makes his first trip as manager next month. Armagh taught Kildare a lesson in Newbridge last year and this will be a very stern test again. There will a couple of points in it either way.
After that, Kildare should win against Westmeath and Laois, with a high stakes showdown against Meath in Páirc Tailteann to finish things off, just like last year.
With five teams in contention of winning this, 10 points might get you into the final, that points total is the very most Kildare will get.
“(Louth) was important to me. But when we lost, I was saying it wasn’t important,” said McGeeney. “I would imagine that he (Kerry forward Declan O’Sullivan) doesn’t want to go out and lose to Dublin on Sunday.
“Now if he loses, he’s not going to say ‘that’s my season kaput’. But he’ll still want to win.”
Kildare’s national football league campaign throws in against Down on Sunday in St Conleth’s Park at 2.30pm.