'They put so much in' - Kildare manager praises his All-Ireland U16 champions
Kildare manager James Costello spoke to the local media after his side’s victory in the AirNav Ireland All-Ireland U16 ‘A’ Championship final
Speaking after his side became All-Ireland U16 ‘A’ champions for 2026, Kildare manager James Costello said: “That has a lovely ring to it. It's great. It still doesn't feel real in some ways. They are just taking it all in. That was such a rollercoaster match, but we're just delighted for the girls. They put so much in. You can see them there, all the players, they're just so happy. So, you know, overjoyed.”
The Lilies led 0-5 to 0-2 with chances galore at both ends at the interval. “We felt that our attack was going well,” Costello added. “We were moving well and getting into space. We just need a little bit more composure in front of goal. I think we had four chances to get a goal and we didn't take any of them, so we felt we had to get at least one in the second half.”
That desire to take those chances didn’t arrive straight after the restart however with Cavan hitting the game’s next five points in a rampant spell, but the manager said that his players ‘adjusted’ to the game.
“They saw themselves where they had to be on the pitch, what they had to do. And they just, in that middle third there again, they just shut it down a bit more and then they drove on. I think the great thing we've seen there was 15 minutes to go the Kildare players were driving on into that breeze,” Costello said.
Kildare responded superbly to that Cavan surge after the break; hitting two points to level things up before Anna Dillon’s all important goal. After raising the game’s only green flag, The Lilies outscored Cavan three points to two and were propped up by some heroic defending throughout.
Costello added, “The full-back line there were amazing. The full-back line in the first half (were amazing), then we made a couple of changes. In the second half again, all those backs, they were heroic. It was back to the wall and so brilliant.
“Our match against Cork this year was incredibly tough and tonight was just unbelievable. They're great. The one thing we've tried to instil this year is that Kildare, a great county for sport, has that belief system for all of them to just keep going, just believe, believe, believe. I hope this win for them will just drive them on again, not just this year but into the future.”