WHEN THE KILDARE team ran out onto Croke Park yesterday, I must admit I was a bit emotional. I’ve spent many years savouring the start of the Leinster championship on the pitch as a player. To be watching on up in the Hogan Stand, where I was doing some punditry work for KFM on the game against Louth, was strange.
It was a different feeling all week in the build-up. Training on a nice summer’s evening before the championship starts was always a brilliant feeling. The hard work was done and you were applying the finishing touches then. I missed it but I realised that I had my time. There’s a bit of satisfaction in having given it everything I had. I’m content with that.
Kildare are moving on anyway. As someone said to me last night, I missed them more than they missed me. Before the game there were concerns about the team. Getting relegated to Division 2. Louth having a championship win under their belt and being our bogey team of late. Aidan O’Rourke having the inside track on Kildare. The first round in Leinster had a habit of tripping us up in recent years as well.
All those worries disappeared very quickly. From the moment that Cathal McNally won the ball early on, tore towards goal and struck a point, the tone was set. Kildare faced questions and answered them. They were impressive in attack.
Twelve different scorers meant there wasn’t a reliance on anyone. There’s a lot of youth in that forward line. Niall Kelly, Paddy Brophy and Podge Fogarty all have great potential. It was good to see them playing well.
Jason Ryan has had a tough start as Kildare manager. The league was difficult. He’d a lot of injuries to cope with and there was no Peter Kelly or Eoin Doyle yesterday. He lost Daniel Flynn to the AFL. But Jason works with what he had available and had the team primed for yesterday. I was delighted for him.
You’d expect Meath to come through next Sunday’s quarter-final. It’ll be a bigger challenge for Kildare but they’ll gain a lot of confidence from yesterday. Kildare have often been accused in the past of not backing up good results. That’s the task that faces them.
It was a great weekend for Kildare GAA. Three guys from my own club were involved with the Kildare hurlers who won the Christy Ring Cup. It was fantastic to see. They were 6-1 outsiders but showed the beauty of sports to win. They’ve worked really hard and for the older lads like Paudie Reidy and David Harney, it was a win to cherish.
Dublin…
I started watching Dublin’s match yesterday and thought this could be an upset. Laois were very impressive in the first-half. They nullified Cluxton’s kickout and forced him into hitting 50-50 balls which he doesn’t like. They fed Donie Kingston regularly and Ross Munnelly was on fire. He’s a great example to any player of how to stay at the top of your game for a long period.
I’m paying tribute here to Laois but Dublin then went out and won by 11 points. How much does that say about the level that Dublin are at? It’s incredible really. The players they could call off the bench – McManamon, Rock, Costello and Mannion – are all very talented.
Dublin trailed by 0-10 to 0-8 at half-time but finished with 2-21. They got nine points off their bench and that’s phenomenal scoring. You can try to pick holes in Dublin’s displays but the manner in which they blow teams away at the finish puts them above everyone else. It’s going to be tough on Wexford the next day. They’re the latest Leinster team tasked with the difficult job of stopping Jim Gavin’s side.
Mayo…
We saw from Mayo’s reaction at the final whistle yesterday how much beating Roscommon meant to them. Andy Moran and Aidan O’Shea were delighted. Mayo have strolled through Connacht recently but yesterday got the type of test they wanted.
James Horan will be pleased. They dug deep to see off an up and coming Roscommon team. A game like that builds serious character. We’ve seen in the past that Tyrone made an art of struggling through hard-fought games en route to winning an All-Ireland. It builds a team ethos. Whatever is thrown at them, Mayo will now feel they can handle it.
Moran and Alan Dillon did the business for Mayo when they needed it. Inter-county football is like a relay race, you need to be as strong at the finish as the start. The reaction of guys like Moran and Dillon in coming off the bench is what you want.
They wanted to show the manager that they should have been picked and demonstrated that on the pitch. Young players will feed off that attitude.
