Everything set up for Lilywhites as they aim to secure return to the big time this Sunday

“I’m delighted with that. Sometimes you have to win ugly, and I think the three matches we won in the league this year so far we’ve put up big scores and played the type of football you’d like to play – open and expansive – but today was always going to be a dogfight and the lads dug in and really put in a massive second half there and that was the most pleasing thing,” said Cian O’Neill as he began his press briefing following Saturday night’s five-point win over Down.

There was great satisfaction to be taken from a win over a team that showed a clear lack of ambition going forward, more often than not stacking 14 men behind the ball as they looked to curtail a Kildare attack that has been firing on all cylinders throughout February and March. It was an understandable gameplan from a Down point of view, seeing as only Armagh have scored more across all four divisions in this year’s league.

Such an ability to penetrate a frugal defence will be needed this Sunday when Clare visit St Conleth’s Park as the Lilywhites come up against one of only three teams(Monaghan and Tyrone are the tightest) to have a better defensive record than Cian O’Neill’s side this term in the top three divisions. The Banner men have conceded 3-62 in their five games to date – slightly better than Kildare’s concession of 2-66 – and Colm Collins’ men will be well drilled when they arrive in Newbridge.

Kildare’s attack looked a far cry from the one that had clocked up 9-62 in their four previous games during the first half in Newry, and the absence of Ben McCormack, Neill Flynn and Chris Healy through injury had a major role in that. Still though, O’Neill and his selectors realised something needed to change at the interval after the visitors had scored just one point from open play in a dull first 35 minutes, and his decision to catapult David Slattery into the fray at the interval for his first meaningful league minutes proved a masterstroke as he netted two goals in less than 15 minutes.

“The bench are there and the squad is there for that reason. It’s nothing to do with the manager or the selectors,” said a modest O’Neill as he shied away from taking credit for the move.

“It’s got to do with when a player gets his chance, and you know we always say it to the subs, make an impact and make a difference. His difference was just phenomenal; to kick two goals and pick up a knock. But overall, the ball had to get in there and we weren’t getting it into those positions in the first half for anyone to finish them, so that was pleasing in the second half as well when we tried to work it in a bit closer.”

Slattery bagged two goals for Kildare last Saturday.

Kildare will have the chance to seal successive promotions on the back of successive relegations when they host Clare on Sunday, and the contrast with the Jason Ryan era couldn’t be starker at the moment. The Waterford native’s two-year tenure delivered two relegations that left Kildare languishing in Division 3; O’Neill’s first two years in charge is likely to bring about successive promotions that catapults them back up to the heady heights of Division 1.

The ultra-competitive nature of the second tier meant that O’Neill was never discussing promotion openly until Saturday night, and even then he was preaching from the gospel of ‘one game at a time’. The fact that Kildare had a head start on their promotion chasing rivals last weekend was evidently a help, with Clare losing valuable ground when they fell to Fermanagh on Sunday afternoon.

“Since day one, and I think I’ve said it, we just approach one game at a time and we didn’t get too despondent when we were beaten by Derry, and we didn’t get too despondent when we won the matches we’ve won. One game at a time, and 10 points would be a massive return for a team that has just been promoted if we do win next week and we’ll see where that takes us,” said O’Neill.

“It doesn’t happen too often - especially in Division 2 - that you play a Saturday night match and it can have an impact on how teams approach their Sunday matches, but if we lost tonight I’m sure it would have a different effect on the teams tomorrow. We’re on eight points now and we’re looking down as opposed to looking up, and whatever impact that has on teams tomorrow in their preparations, but we’ll just focus on our next match against Clare now.”

Clare went on to lose, and Kildare are now strong favourites to make the leap to the top tier. A draw will do this weekend, and it is probably necessary as O’Neill and his players would not be relishing the prospect of needing a result in Salthill when they take on Galway in their final league game the following weekend.

Expect a big crowd in St Conleth’s Park as supporters’ belief in this young team continues to grow, but a Clare team that will have Ballyea’s Gary Brennan back running their midfield will be a difficult obstacle to overcome.