"I think the satisfaction is for the players really"- O'Neill happy for players to take the plaudits following promotion

It’s not something that many Kildare supporters would have envisaged at the beginning of this league campaign, and Cian O’Neill still states that the players never discussed he prospects of it, so gaining promotion to Division 1 can only be seen as a massive achievement for a group of players that have steadily grown before our eyes in the first three months of 2017.

That loss to Dublin’s third string in the O’Byrne Cup that supposedly signalled the end of the world has been all but forgotten, and Kildare will line out in the curtain raiser to Dublin’s likely appearance in another league final, with the Lilywhites having already sealed a spot in the Division 2 decider.

Manager Cian O’Neill was his usual self in the post-match media briefing, focusing on the work the players had put in during his time in charge, brushing off any praise directed toward him, and also pointing out the flaws that still exist in Kildare’s performances.

“I think the satisfaction is for the players really,” began O’Neill.

“I don’t think they could have foreseen how the climb was going to be this year, how steep it was going to be. A lot of comes down to the hard work put in - and they did put in a lot of hard work – and you could see there today that we’re still a good bit off it, let’s be honest.

“What we did today was enough to get past Clare, but we have a lot of rough edges that we need to smooth out because I would have liked to have thought we’d have been more comfortable in the second half. That wasn’t the case; I’m delighted with the result and what it means, but you have to look at the championship because that’s where it’s really at.”

It was the number of turnovers coughed up that seemed to attract the ire of O’Neill the most.

“There are turnovers in every match, but I think what catches us is unforced errors as they say in tennis. Because when you make those errors nobody is expecting it, so you’ve already committed to attack for example. Five of their scores came of our turnovers today, and that’s really disappointing. It was a strong feature last year and we never fully got to grips with it – we did it in championship as well – but we really have done well in that area this year, but it came back to haunt us today.”

There were two things that O’Neill said he and his management team would have to shoulder some blame for; Kildare’s inability to break down a blanket Banner defence and the failure to prevent Shane Brennan from piercing through Kildare’s rearguard time and again and getting sight on Mark Donnellan’s goal.

“We knew Clare were going to be defensive, and maybe I need to look at that myself, because we put a huge amount of effort into preparing mentally for Down last week and the type of game we were going to face, and we were physically prepared for it being a 0-5 to 0-4 match, a 0-6 to 0-5 match. Today, Clare were equally, maybe not as much, but definitely 13 men behind the ball and we tried to force things, rush things and kicking the ball away. That’s something I’ll look at myself and the management in terms of preparation,” said O’Neill.

“We didn’t get to grips with him,” he said of Brennan. “That’s something I’ll have a chat to the boys about because he was picked at 12 and played 12 for most of the matches, with Cathal O’Connor in midfield with Gary Brennan. He actually played out and out midfield today, with Cathal O’Connor in at 12, and maybe that’s where there was kind of a mix up in communication at times. We’ll definitely look at that because he caused us problems.”

Still though, he moved on to the positives before long, and the fact that Kildare have jumped two divisions in the space of 12 months is massively pleasing for a manager who has overseen both of those promotions.

Questions about whether or not such a young team is ready for life in the top tier will be asked many times before a ball is thrown in next February, but O’Neill stressed why it’s better to be up there and have a crack at it rather than always wondering whether or not they are good enough. Better to have loved and lost as they say…

“Division 2 is notorious for teams being in there and staying there. I think Galway have been there for six years, and Galway are always there or thereabouts. I didn’t want to reference it, but I just felt it was the kick they needed at half-time – it didn’t work obviously. It was the only time I referenced it all week, because the flip side of that is that they could potentially face relegation, so we knew they’d be coming out all guns blazing,” he continued.

“We’re delighted to be there, and people will say ‘are ye ready?’ It’s irrelevant, it’s better to be there and see where you are rather than wondering could I get there.”

He referenced how the league campaign has been beneficial for the U21 players among the squad, and playing the top teams in the country next year will only continue their progress.

“I think it’s more important for the younger guys, because this is something they couldn’t have thought about. We have six U21’s who were kicked out of a Leinster Championship at quarter-final stage at home in Hawkfield, so they must have been really disappointed after that. Then, three weeks later, knowing that if they stay on track and continue to develop they’ll be playing against Kerry, Dublin, Mayo and Tyrone regularly next year. I think that’s massive, and it’s massive for the county because Kildare needed it,” he said.