Sullivan full of praise for resurgent Kildare after reaching All-Ireland quarter-final
Kildare ladies manager Pat Sullivan was full of praise for a host of his Lilywhites after they beat Tipperary 1-13 to 0-9 to reach an All-Ireland quarter-final
“I think it’s a massive credit to this bunch of players. There was a lot of soul searching for us last Tuesday night. Look, we can't have any complaints. Kerry were really, really good last week. But we didn't play whatsoever and we could have given the whole week to analysing that. We had a lot of work put into it before the Kerry game so we looked at a bigger picture. But to bounce back and close the door on a performance so poor last week and come and perform Tuesday and Thursday. And if you asked me leaving training on Thursday evening, would we win? I'd say 100%,” the words of Kildare manager Pat Sullivan after his side bounced back to reach an All-Ireland Senior Championship quarter-final with a win over Tipperary.
“They followed the processes to the tee today, we knew it was going to be a blanket fence. We filled it so well inside. We opened them up.”
The home side sitting in was a clear tactical focus for Kildare on the day Sullivan said, We made the field big and the field is tight here. We made it as big as possible and just let them set it. In the first half we only had a turnover inside their D once. Outside of that we didn't get a turnover inside their D. And that's credit to the players on the field. You can coach it all day but they have to take responsibility, they took massive responsibility this week and you can see it here today.
He added, “The patience was very important because we were trying to centre ourselves. If we had maybe five or six points to four at halftime, we’d be predicting kind of where you would be. Because the amount of shots you can get off, you’d have to be up in the 70 to 80% to be hitting the 12 and 13 points. And we were today, I think we had two wides in the whole game.
“You won't get enough shots to be hitting 1-15, 1-16 because there's such a blanket defence in front of you. So when you have the ball, you just have to make sure. It might take three minutes and you have that shot. And it has to go dead. And that was a key part of the day, making sure the ball goes dead or whatever happens. It didn't let them counter-attack as well.”
The wounds of the now parked and soon forgotten defeat to Kerry were healed by excellent performances all over the field and the Kildare boss was full of praise for a host of players.
“When you have a half-back line of Molly (Aspell), Ruth (Sargent) and Laoise (Lenehan), they're just a great platform to attack from,” he said. “And we made sure they were on the outside line today for us as well when everybody else was pressed in. Because they're so good on the ball, if they get one-on-one, they'll take you on every time. And they have the ability to go through traffic. And that was really important. Credit to Ruth I think she might have finished with three points even. She was super and unlucky for a goal as well.”
Sargent’s role was a big topic from the game with the Eadestown forward much freer to break through the lines and further up the field, where she thrived in this game.
Sullivan added, “Other players have stepped up to allow Ruth to move out from that full-back line. And a credit to her, first game since last year in the Ireland quarter-final I’d say, for Lia Reilly to play. She had a lot of injuries all year and really had to step up massively at corner back there, which helps us a lot to step out again. And Lisa Shaw did that holding role really, really well today as well.
“She’s (Lara Curran) a natural footballer as well. Her ability on both sides, her balance on the ball. She's very similar to Alannah (Prizeman). Their balance on the ball is excellent. As I said, when you have them stepping up on the forward line, Alannah was really, really good today. And Aoife Rattigan took a massive role as well.
“So overall, it's a great performance.”