Plenty of turnover in Kildare squad ahead of 2026 season

Year two of a four-year term for Kildare Senior Football manager Brian Flanagan and it’s a case of so-far, so-good with promotion back to Division 2 of the league secured as well as a guaranteed place in the Sam Maguire Cup thanks to the Tailteann Cup triumph.

Flanagan has been hit with injuries in the pre-season. Darragh Kirwan and the returning Jack Robinson will definitely miss the start of the league campaign while Shane Farrell and Cathal Hagney remain on the long-term absentee list.

With Mick O’Grady, Niall Kelly and Daniel Flynn retiring, it’s going to be another fresh-looking Kildare team while the Athy and Sallins players have had long seasons at club level. With many of the panel involved in the Sigerson Cup in January, Flanagan’s team to play Wexford in the O’Byrne Cup in Enniscorthy on Saturday may be a case of ‘last man standing.’ We’re only three weeks away from the ‘real stuff’ starting and Kildare’s opening league tie couldn’t have come any tougher, an away tie to divisional favourites Tyrone in Omagh on 24 January. Kildare’s only win on Tyrone soil was back in 1927 when they won in Dungannon and their last seven clashes with the Red Hands at any venue have ended in defeat.

After that it’s Offaly and Derry at Cedral St Conleth’s Park and Flanagan will no doubt be looking to maintain a one hundred percent record at the Newbridge venue. Wins in those two would go a long way towards securing survival in Division 2, which is surely the aim for the 2026 league.

League campaigns do tend to take on a life of their own, with games coming in quick succession and if Kildare could take four points from those Offaly and Derry games, they follow them with a trip to Cavan and a home tie with Meath, who they have a good record against in Newbridge.

They finish with a trip to Páirc Uí Chaoimh followed by a home game with Louth.

Apart from the three aforementioned retirees, Kildare will also be without Aaron Masterson, Kevin Flynn, Tony Archbold and Rian Teahan who have stepped away, and they look a little raw defensively, shorn of O’Grady’s experience. They were susceptible to runs from deep last year and the tall rangy Kerry full-forward Tomás Kennedy gave an inexperienced and somewhat lightweight defence the run around in the recent challenge game.

Kildare conceded some big scores against the likes of Sligo and Limerick in the Tailteann Cup and with the step up in class they are facing, it’s an area they need to work on. Perhaps that is something they are looking to Davy Burke to provide with the former Roscommon manager now joining the set-up in a coaching capacity.

Attacking wise, Kildare have plenty of options if all are available, although the loss of the mercurial Flynn will make them a lot more predictable.

Midfield remains a work-in-progress. The jury remains out on Brendan Gibbons at this level as a foil for Kevin Feely, and Dan Lynam and perhaps Darragh Mangan could get chances during the League.

All in all there are more questions than answers coming into the league campaign, but Kildare should have enough to hold on to their status this time around.

The Leinster campaign is something of a free hit, with Sam Maguire football already secured. We possibly renew acquaintances with Offaly in the Quarter Final if they overcome Laois, having lost two out of three encounters with the Faithful in 2025. Then it would be Meath/Westmeath or Longford in the semi-final.

Is it too much to hope for a Leinster Final appearance in Flanno’s second year? With a bit of momentum and luck with injuries, I don’t think so. It has to be the target.