Kildare manager urges his team to show their potential
Kildare manager Rob O'Neill Photo: Dave Barrett
Kildare will face Cavan in the Glen Dimplex Premier Junior Camogie semi-final in Glenisk O’Connor Park, Tullamore on Saturday next 18 July with a 1pm throw in. A winless League campaign and defeat to Westmeath in the Leinster championship as well as defeats to Armagh, Roscommon and Cavan in the All-Ireland series might not have given much hope but new manager, Rob O’Neill and the players never lost faith, never lost belief.
“The three championship games we lost, we led at halftime so we knew our performances contained plenty of positives. There's always been so much genuine belief in this group, even when results didn't reflect our performance,” O’Neill told the Kildare Nationalist this week.
Reflecting on the League O’Neill said that the squad had been “stretched from a selection point of view, through injuries, College commitments, Leaving Cert commitments and personal commitments but we have our full panel available to us now,” he said.
“At the start of the season we sat down with the team and discussed both individual and team goals. The team goals were to reach a National League final and I'll be honest, an All-Ireland Final,” the Kildare manager continued. “We’re disappointed we didn’t get to a National League Final. We could have done ourselves a little bit more justice in one or two games but it’s been a learning curve for us as well,” O’Neill continued.
He only took over the manager role last November and only had his squad together from the end of January this year.
“It’s still a very young team in terms of age and togetherness,” he explained.
A very strong Westmeath team, led by Megan Dowdall, put paid to the Leinster campaign of this young Kildare camogie team.
The Glen Dimplex Premier Junior Championship pitted Kildare against Armagh, Roscommon, Cavan, Wicklow and Tyrone. The first three games against Armagh away and Roscommon and table toppers, Cavan at home, continued the winless streak.
“In the first game, I was extremely confident heading in at halftime two points up against Armagh. I thought we probably should have been maybe four points up but the second half didn't go according to plan. We underperformed as far as I'm concerned and when your team comes out of a ground disappointed with the result and are already putting themselves up for the next game and the next game and never underestimating their own belief and their own talent, that's a good place to be,” O’Neill said.
Sunday’s opponents, unbeaten Cavan, were third up in the Group Stages and Kildare were six points up at one stage in the opening half and were still two points up at half time before losing 1-9 to 0-16.
“I'll be honest, that was one of the games where we had to dig deep into the panel,” O’Neill explained.
“Watching that game back there are some transitions of play there that Cavan were unable to defend against. We've been focusing and concentrating on those and we have been looking at the positives. We have a full panel back in and we’ve been really digging into training to look to counteract the one or two individuals they have from a puck out point of view,” the manager added.
Kildare had a big 6-21 to 1-5 win over Wicklow, who were managed to an All-Ireland semi-final last year. “What we looked to do in in that game was to perfect our training ground play and to identify opportunities and I think we showed that with the greatest of respect to Wicklow,” O’Neill added.
Victory over Tyrone away in the Final Group game was a challenge for the Kildare team but they managed that on a scoreline of 2-10 to 1-12.
“We relish these challenges,” the Kildare manager told us.
“I heard a statistic there as I was going back down on the bus that this team was the first Kildare team to win up North in 10 plus years,” he added proudly. The Kildare full forward line of the two McDermotts, Rebecca and Aoife, and Róisín Forde is a formidable unit now.
“We've taken a little bit of time to identify the strength in the lines,” Rob O’Neill said.
“We have line leaders in each of the lines and the combinations and the way in which Rebecca, Róisín and Aoife are combining in training and now in games is great to watch. We have strategically positioned people on lines to be those line leaders. We're a very positive mindset group and this is why we don't let the likes of outside noise disrupt what we're trying to do here. Having the talent within this county playing for the county, it's been a joy to be able to be part of,” the manager added.
Nine clubs are represented on the current Kildare camogie panel, reflecting the strength of the game throughout the county. “We don't dwell on the past; we can't change that. My energy goes into what we control today. That's the process and the mindset of looking to implement what we want to focus on and that's the effort that we put in today and that the quality of the decisions we make today of players and coaches, both on and off the pitch, that's that's how I plan to shape the future,” Rob O’Neill says.
He says Cavan are “a very solid and well drilled” team.
“It will be a challenge; it will be a difficult game but I do suspect that we may have fresher legs. I am confident that we can counteract where I believe they're strong. I have absolutely no doubt in my player's ability to be able to transition and now we're seeing it being respectively transitioned onto the scoreboard as well. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s going to be a good challenge,” Rob O’Neill concluded.
