Kildare performance against Kerry 'hard to figure' says Sullivan

“Disappointing is one way of looking at it. Very hard to put a finger on it just after the final whistle. From that performance four weeks ago in a Leinster final against a really good Dublin team, obviously Kerry are on par with them as well. We just did a lot of uncharacteristic things in the first half. Overall possession, entries inside our 45, we were on par with them but unfortunately from our scoreboard and our coughing up of six turnovers inside the 45, we conceded 1-3 from the six of them. At this level, that's where they'll hurt you,” the words of a downbeat Kildare manager Pat Sullivan on the pitch at full-time of his side’s defeat to Kerry in Round 2 of the All-Ireland Senior Championship.

“We can't have any complaints. We had it position-wise, we were there in the first half and were playing under a bit of a breeze, but they managed the breeze so well in the second half versus what we did in the first half. We have to learn very quickly now. We've got a massive game in six to seven days now against Tipp(erary).”

The Kildare ladies have a quick turnaround to Tipperary next Saturday, June 20 which will advance the need for them to put this result behind them as they face an entirely different prospect in the form of The Premier.

“Completely different perspective again. Why? We’re going to play Tip in a small field, really, really tight. Plus Tipp are very defensive as well and keep a lot of bodies behind the ball,” the manager explained. “So we're going to have to mind that ball next week and make sure we don't cough up any possession. When we have it, they can't hurt us.”

READ NEXT: Blaming the manager a well-worn patch says Brian Flanagan

The frustration in both the manager and the watching fans was evident as the ladies mirrored a recent issue in wider Kildare football with banal possession leading to giving up a turnover after carrying the ball into contact.

Sullivan added, “It's no excuse for us, but as I said, we had the chances. We carried it into probably alleys that suit Kerry because they're so physical, so strong in that tackle. We wanted to stay away from the tackle. Look, I take my hat off to Kerry. In fairness, they came here today and they performed really, really well. And we did perform below our par.

“That's very hard now because the big key for us now is to recover and refocus straight away. We can't fix this, we can't change that here. But we have to change for next Tuesday night before we get to training.”

It’s all about what’s next for The Lilies after a dismal double-header curtain-raiser but their struggles against Kerry will all be forgotten if they emerge with victory next weekend to reach the knockout stages.

“I thought we were in a good place going into this massive game against Tip. Even regardless of what happened today, I always felt that the Tipp game was going to be massive. And I don't reflect much on the Tipp-Kerry game the last day. Tipp are way better than that. And they probably got caught in the headlights on that day and the conditions were very bad, too, for them to be fair,” Sullivan said.

Is it hard to take something from a game like that?

“It’s a really good question, to be fair,” Sullivan replied. Like, there's two options here. Option A is you go and you analyse the data where you are. Option B is you park it and you move on. Because we know from our own standards and what we've done four weeks ago and what we've been doing in training is totally different to what we saw here today. So these days come and there's nothing you can do about them.”

He continued, “You look like a team, not fit enough, or whatever. Why are you not? You are. You're 100% fitter than that but the problem was, when you are chasing the ball so much, the person on the ball looks the fittest always. That's what happened to us today when we were chasing.”