Crunch weekend ahead for Kildare teams
Kildare and Meath will resume their rivalry in Cedral St Conleths Park on Saturday evening Photo: ©INPHO/James Crombie
The knives weren’t exactly being sharpened but when Brian Flanagan’s Kildare lost successive league matches to Clare and Offaly last year the doubts crept in as to whether the bright new dawn would prove to be a false one.
Thankfully Flanagan settled the ship and promotion was secured, though there were further blips in the league final and against Louth in Leinster before the season finished on a high with the Tailteann win.
So we have been here before. Here being two successive defeats, in very contrasting matches, against Derry and Cavan. Defeats that leave Kildare well and truly in a relegation battle heading into Saturday night’s big derby with upwardly mobile neighbours Meath, favourites in many people’s eyes for the Leinster title (including their own no doubt) and still well in the mix for promotion despite their narrow loss in Cork.
Sunday last was such an opportunity lost for Flanagan’s players. With Offaly hammered in Derry to make it no points from four, Cavan would have been cut adrift with them if Kildare had done the business in Breffni. They didn’t, turning in the worst performance since Flanagan took over and Louth’s win against Tyrone heaps more pressure on the Lilywhites heading into Saturday night.
Meath remain a little difficult to read. One could argue they have regained that “Meathness” of old with games never over until they’re over, last gasp wins against Cavan and Louth reinforcing that notion even if their comeback against Cork fell just short.
Their championship campaign last summer suggested clear potential to mix it with the best before the wheels came off badly against Donegal in the last four.
So, the jury may be out a little and Kildare haven’t had the opportunity to test themselves against this “new Meath”, the last encounter between the sides being the 0-12 to 0-9 defeat in Navan in the dying days of both Glenn Ryan’s and Colm O’Rourke’s struggling reigns two years ago.
The year before that, of course, we had the joy of a 0-13 to 0-8 win in the old St Conleth’s Park’s swansong game, a wonderful occasion. Hopefully Saturday night can match that for the occasion and more importantly, the result.
There are concerns, and a bright light was shone on those on Sunday in Cavan. Amid an error-strewn, lethargic and painfully weak performance against a Breffni side that was not much better, the Kildare midfield misfired for the second week in a row, and options are limited. Meath are particularly strong here with Jack Flynn earning rave reviews and deservedly so. Physically, Kildare may struggle to match the Royals.
If fingers can be pointed at management, then perhaps the failure to identify and develop better midfield options is a fair criticism. Daragh Mangan has come into the panel with Aaron Masterson dropping out. Aaron O’Neill, presumably, is not seen as an outfield option, given that he was unused on Sunday when Kildare could have done with some aerial presence off the bench.
The untracked running wing back from deep continues to alarm Kildare watchers. It has been a problem that pre-dates Flanagan and the new rules have exacerbated the issue.
So, it’s back to the drawing board for the management this week and the hope will be that the return of Alex Beirne and, perhaps, Kevin Feely, maybe even Colm Dalton, could provide a boost. Home advantage will help too, but Kildare will need to find both the confidence and form of those earlier games against Tyrone and Offaly, if they are to thrive on Saturday night. Anything less and a return to Division 3 raises its ugly head.
If there’s a hurling equivalent of a cold Tuesday night in Stoke, it’s probably Ballycran on a cold, wet Sunday in February.
For all the plaudits Kildare deservedly accumulated for their outstanding win over Antrim and for running Clare to four points last Saturday, it will all count for very little if they don’t come away from the Down venue with both points on Sunday.
This is where the rubber hits the road in terms of the relegation fight in Division 1B, a battle that was complicated by Antrim’s comprehensive win over Carlow at the weekend. Kildare still need at least one and possibly two wins to stay up, with games against Carlow and Wexford to follow after Ballycran.
On paper, with Down pointless and having shipped a 29-point loss to Clare in Ennis, a performance in sharp contrast to Kildare’s against the Banner, Brian Dowling’s men should be firm favourites going up there on Sunday.
But the set-up will no better. Kildare have been to Ballycran five times and only once, in 2022, came away with both points, though they drew in 2001 and 2024.
It was only twelve months ago that we last tasted defeat up there (0-22 to 2-19) and the Mourne Men repeated the dose in the Division 2 league final in Inniskeen (3-18 to 4-22).
Kildare did of course get that red and black monkey off their back in the McDonagh Cup when a 1-26 to 1-14 on a nervy afternoon in Cedral St Conleth’s Park in May saw them clinch their place in the final.
It’s largely been an upward path for Kildare since then, while Down have lost all three league games, with a minus 41 scoring differential. Tellingly, however, they ran Wexford to only two points (0-25 to 0-27) in their only previous outing in Ballycran during this campaign, another warning to the Lilywhites about the potential perils awaiting them. Down put in an almighty shift that day to almost pull off a famous second half comeback.
With all those red flags, Kildare should be sufficiently on their guard taking the long journey to the Ards peninsula.
Unlike their football counterparts, the hurlers have very few fitness concerns these days, although James Burke remains on the road to recovery from his cruciate injury and Darragh Melville is another of the McDonagh heroes still out.
But the return of David Qualter has been a huge boost and the starting fifteen Kildare were able to field against Clare was probably the strongest we’ve ever seen representing the county. They have taken to the step-up in class in 1B with such maturity and confidence, with great credit to Dowling and his team, that you can be confident you will get a certain base layer of performance and attitude every time they take to the field.
Form can be temporary but so many of Dowling’s players are playing at the peak of their powers. On Saturday, any of Cian Boran, Paddy McKenna, Cathal McCabe, Gerry Keegan or Jack Sheridan, to name five, were in contention for man-of-the-match honours.
Anything less than a win would be a major step backwards for Kildare.
