Preview: Kildare ladies on the cusp of another title in Division 2 league final

We are just eight months on from the Kildare Ladies’ All-Ireland Intermediate Championship win over Clare and they are back in Croke Park again.

Following an astounding Division 2 campaign, they face Tyrone in the league final on April 7.

The Lillies have still not lost a game since that dramatic All-Ireland final win last August. Theyare now 21 games unbeaten and promotion to the top tier is the next steps on a thus far meteoric rise under Diane O’Hora.

There were many surprising things that we saw from the newly-promoted Kildare side in Division 2. The obvious question marks surrounding how they would fare up a level were quickly extinguished and new, more ambitious wonderings arose.

However, the truly astonishing thing this year has been the flow of these games.
Division 2 sides have bended the knee to Kildare tactically. The side who, in theory, should have been the ones getting accustomed to a new standard, have been the ones setting it in 2024.

More often than not, the teams who have faced Diane O’Hora’s newcomers were happy to sit off and get bodies behind the ball in the hopes of containing them.

This year began with a home game against Monaghan, a side that the year before were solely focused on staying in Division 2.
It was a windswept game in less than ideal conditions and Kildare emerged with a 1-6 to 0-5 win after a professional performance.

It was a game they largely controlled, against a side not expected to be at the sharp end of the table.
The watershed moment in this campaign came against Donegal, in Letterkenny.

The home side were just down from Division 1 and of course had ambitions of returning, this would be Kildare’s first litmus test and all would see where this season might take them.

The Lillies dominated in all departments, but trailed surprisingly late into this game. They needed a couple of scores to match their performance and, of course, Róisin Byrne got them. The Sarsfields woman hit an exceptional 1-5, of 1-8 scored, on the day.

After reducing Donegal to just a single point in the second half, Kildare took home the points, but it was the manner in which they did so that should have sounded alarm bells for the rest of Division 2.

It was a complete performance and a stunning away win as the supposedly newly-promoted side looked nothing of sort and made it two wins from two.

Next up was Cavan and Kildare dispatched the now-relegated side with little fuss as they emerged 3-12 to 0-3 victors in Belturbet. Three from three.

Another enormous moment in this campaign was away to Tipperary as travelling fans began to feel they might never see a home game again after over a 1,000kms were clocked to and from games in the weeks following the opening day.

Tipperary would be the first team to match Kildare in terms of an effective strategy.
Their low-block and calculated pressing upset a Kildare side who certainly underperformed.

An enormous attacking focus for Diane O’Hora’s side has been width. The attacking players that diligently stuck to the sidelines and maintained that width cut Cavan to ribbons with the space that was created in the middle.

Credit must go to Tipperary who could have easily taken points away from The Lillies on the day. Kildare take credit for winning ugly, as they got out of dodge with an 0-8 to 0-7 win in nail-biting circumstances.

Astounding achievement
However, the win against an excellently organised Tipperary meant that promotion to Division 1 was possible with victory over Laois, alongside a favourable result from Tyrone vs Donegal (2nd vs 3rd).

Kildare would get both as they again dominated proceedings en-route to a 3-11 to 0-7 win and secured promotion to the top tier.

An astounding achievement for last year’s Division 3 champions and done so with two games to spare. The Laois win was also their 19th in-a-row.

Now we come to face their league final opponents, the also promoted Tyrone and the draw they shared in Omagh.
This game will not be over-analysed as both sides made key changes having already secured their spot at the top table for 2025.

Kildare's last league game was a comfortable win over Westmeath. They maintained a lead without over-exerting themselves as both sides rang in the changes.

Kildare took home the points and finished top of Division 2 with six wins and one draw from their seven games.

Now we arrive to April 7, and despite their recent success in Croker, this game will be brand new territory to many of the Kildare squad of 2024, which has 13 changes when compared to the year prior.

Added to that, the 15 that started that final versus Clare has six changes when compared to those who lined out against Laois in Kildare’s final truly competitive national league game.

Looking at the five games that secured Kildare promotion, they conceded just 1-26 (29 points), an average of just 5.8 points per game.

A key point on that level being maintained going forward will be the presence of Laoise Lenehan.
The Kildare full-back has missed recent games with a hamstring injury and is unequivocally one of the finest players in her position in this country. It is unclear yet whether she is fit to play.

The review of the league campaign says all that needs to be said about Kildare. The dominance of possession and fast inter-change of passing that brought them to the dance has remained following promotion last year.

The ambitious attacking set-up that is backed by a resilient defence is still present and aren’t we grateful for it.
Now we look at their final opponents Tyrone, a team of undoubted quality, particularly in attacking areas.

Tyrone have been the great entertainers of Division 2, scoring 107 points (nine more than Kildare), but conceding 31 more than their league final opponents. Therein lies the key to this game.

A regular league game with both sides at full strength and I reckon Kildare would take home victory. They are likely the better side overall, but a final against a team of that scoring prowess changes that dynamic completely.

The All-Ireland final with Clare showed us all how quickly things can change for the worse. Clare had a chance to draw the game late on in a tie where they were almost entirely second-best.

Kildare must exercise the control that they have shown throughout this campaign so far. If they maintain their attacking and defensive principles, they have an enormous chance to add another trophy to their collection.

Structure, width and penetrative passing on that big Croke Park pitch and those potent Kildare forwards could have a brilliant day in HQ.

This is a perfectly poised fixture. Kildare have been in command of their games to this point and have done plenty of scoring while they were at it. Tyrone have been swashbuckling and the key for them will be to not change what brought them to this final.

This is a game not to be missed and it takes place at Croke Park this Sunday April 7, throw-in 1 pm.