"We have to play the match and not the occasion"– Costello
The Kildare squad before the AirNav All-Ireland U-16 'A' Championship semi-final win over Cork Photo: Karl Gormley
Ballybunion native, James Costello, leads a Kildare team into their first ever LGFA U16 “A” Final when they face Cavan in the AirNav All Ireland Final in Páirc Chiarán, Athlone on Wednesday evening at 7.30pm. The Kildare manager left the pleasant surrounds of the Kerry town to settle in the County Town of Kildare in 2002 and quickly became involved in ladies football in Naas.
“I got involved with Naas in 2017 to try and help out the club,” James Costello told The Kildare Nationalist this week as he and his management team put the finishing touches to preparations for Wednesday’s All Ireland Final.
“We felt there was great potential there so I took on the Chairperson role of Ladies Football at Naas. There were a number of great people involved at the time and the big thing for us was to focus on the player development,” he explained.
He then took on the management role of the Kildare U14 team in 2023.
“We won the Leinster “A” Championship the first year and beat Kerry in the All-Ireland Quarter Final but lost the Semi Final,” Costello recalls.
“Coincidentally, we did the same the following year. We then got involved with the U16’s last year, won Leinster and got to a semi-final and thankfully this year we won our semi-final,” he added.
That semi-final turned out to be an outstanding one-point victory, 2-14 to 3-10, over Cork in Fethard two weeks ago. Costello believes that the learnings from last year’s defeat at the penultimate stage helped shape the victory over Cork.
“We did a review after last year and we said, there's things we need to learn from the past year and previous years and we said we definitely needed to bring that forward into this year,” he explained.
Despite an early Anna Dillon penalty, Kildare went in trailing 2-8 to 1-6 at half time.
“We scored 1-6 in the first half but when we didn't have the ball we were just a little bit too open in certain parts of the pitch so we had to deal with that at half time,” the manager said.
There was no panic or fiery team talk at half time from Costello and his management team.
“The key thing for us was trying to give the girls that sense of calm to say, look, this is where it's going well and this is where we need to make improvements,” he told us.
“Cork got the first score after half time and then we got going,” James Costello says proudly.
“We got the goal and started tagging on some scores and our defence was so amazing throughout that second half. Huge credit to the players,” he continued.
“The attitude of the girls to come out in the second half and to really work hard from goalkeeper to corner forward really impressed me,” the manager said.
A last-minute goal by Cork made for a nervy ending for the Lilywhites but they held out for a famous victory, thanks to learnings from the defeat to Galway last year.
“We spoke about how there was only a grain of rice between the two teams that day and we felt that for all our matches going forward, we had to keep going to the end and the girls really stood up to that belief,” the Naas clubman says of the resilience shown by the players in seeing the semi-final out against Cork.
Preparations have gone well for Wednesday’s All Ireland Final against Cavan according to James Costello.
“The weather has been very warm still so we've been trying to get the girls to focus on their own preparation as well, hydrating, eating well, sleeping, so we think it's gone well, anyway,” he added.
He doesn’t underestimate Cavan, however.
“They won the All-Ireland in ‘23 and 24 at U16 “A” and they've had the success at U14 and minor level so it's going to be a great battle for the final. We just hope that we can deliver on the day to our potential,” he said.
Speaking of his own players the manager said, “When you see them the other night against Cork and the joy in their faces it was the most amazing night that I've ever been on a football pitch. I think for them to be in this Final is so special. It's the first time ever for a Kildare U16 team to be in an All-Ireland Final and the first time ever to win two Leinsters in a row as well,” he enthused.
“We have to play the match and not the occasion so we hope that they that they can enjoy it and that they can play their best football once again. We’re really hoping that as many people from Kildare as possible can come along to support the girls because their support means everything to the players on the pitch. We're hoping that they can deliver and enjoy the occasion and hopefully we get the win they deserve,” Costello concluded.
Amber Blake (Naas), Amy Wall (Castlemitchell), Anna Dillon (Sarsfields), Anna Whelan (Naas), Annabelle Lundy (Kilcock), Aoife Hayes (Kill), Beth O'Donoghue (Sarsfields), Breffni Nolan (Cappagh), Caoimhe Costello (Naas), Caoimhe Cully (Balyna), Catherine Murphy (Athy), Dearbhla Hearns (Kilcock), Dearbhla Nolan (Cappagh), Doireann Lanigan (Celbridge), Eabha Flynn (St Laurence's), Ellen Moran (Kill), Ellen Moran (Na Fianna), Grace Byrne (Castledermot), Grace Martin (Clane), Izzy Mae Middleton (Kilcullen), Kali McDonald (Clane), Kate Dooley (Castlemitchell), Kate Hill (Balyna), Katie Lyons (Caragh), Katie Rose Harrison (Monastervin), Kayla Mooney (St Kevins), LilyAnne Keatley (Castledermot), Meabh Grogan (Carbury), Olivia Coffey (Leixlip), Olivia Warren (St Laurence's), Orlaith Dempsey (Sarsfields), Rachel Enright (Naas), Roisin Kerins (Clane), Sadie Burke (Sarsfields), Sarianna Hannick (Raheens), Siah McManus (Naas).
James Costello, David Dempsey, Jackie Hayes, Lorraine McIntyre, Padraig Hurley, Kevin McDonald, Ger Cremin, Harry Hill, Cristina Martin, Frank Sullivan.
