O'Neill must be pondering big changes to engineer kick from faltering Kildare side

You can only persist with something for so long before it becomes obvious that something needs to change, and Kildare are very much entrenched in that territory now. For Cian O’Neill and his players, the last two weeks will have been incredibly difficult ones on the back of one of Kildare’s worst ever defeats in modern times. Some would say it was THE worst.

O’Neill certainly wasn’t shying away from the fact that it was such a rotten performance, himself stating that he couldn’t believe he was involved in a game that ranks as one of the lowest points in recent memory.

“I remember over the years as a supporter you see the Louth match, the Wicklow match, and you think ‘God, that can never happen again’ and here it’s happening with a team I’m involved in – you don’t need to tell me the stats. I’m the one that has to go in and face those players,” he said after the Carlow loss.

There was plenty of honesty in the manager’s words, but there is a sense that those words may not have as much meaning to this group of players as they once did. O’Neill has been there for three years and has achieved plenty of success. It was almost a soft landing coming into the job in 2016 as Kildare were getting some good players back involved with the panel while playing in the relatively smooth waters of Division 3, but 2017 was a qualified success as the Lilywhites went beyond expectations to reach Division 1 and a Leinster final. Relegation from the top tier was always like this year, and perhaps O’Neill has been a victim of his own success.

The players have not helped him out too much in recent months however. Last Sunday there was a very evident lack of zip in the team, and without being inside each player’s head it’s not possible to explain why.

The defence was ill-disciplined, the midfield outshone and the attack nullified; there wasn’t one area of the pitch where Kildare could have claimed to have gained the upper hand. That shouldn’t be against Carlow, who, while undoubtedly having a good setup and being on quite the roll, simply don’t have the same calibre of players that Kildare have. What they did have was a clear goal of what they intended to do on the pitch, where they could hurt Kildare, how they could manage their own resources best, with their final asset being that old cliché of just ‘wanting it more’. They were hungrier for almost every ball, focused in each attack and composed in almost every possession. It was a world away from what Kildare offered up.

Judging from the reaction of supporters across the county it seems clear that many are blaming the manager, but the players really need to show something in Saturday’s game to back O’Neill. He is well within his rights to ring the changes to try and get a kick from them, and with so many players either out of form or not appearing up to the pace in general, there would be very little complaints if there were a plethora of changes.

Some players have never hit form this year, particularly in attack, while Kevin Flynn has arguably been Kildare’s best player since making his county debut in the middle of the league against Donegal.

If Mark Dempsey weren’t involved in the U20 panel he would almost certainly be given a chance against Derry, but that would rip him from a very good U20 side that at least has a chance of winning silverware this year.

James Murray is a player that plenty of people have been calling for since he was introduced to the panel at the end of Moorefield’s excellent All-Ireland run. His all-action style could provide a bit of thrust to a Kildare side sadly lacking in that department lately. Cian O’Donoghue offers a similar attacking threat to Flynn, but O’Neill is unlikely to start with two such marauding wing-backs.

Kildare have not looked dominant in midfield for quite some time now, with Kevin Feely not hitting the highs witnessed against Dublin last year, while Tommy Moolick has not always been first choice in midfield this year. There are very few options otherwise however, with the untested Luke Flynn and a largely unused Fionn Dowling the other possibilities, along with dropping Paul Cribbin back to midfield.

Daniel Flynn was the only inside forward to score in the defeat to Carlow, and it’s tough to call who will start there on Saturday. Neill Flynn probably deserves the chance if he is fully fit, while Eanna O’Connor’s county career shouldn’t be wrote off on the back of one poor display. Niall Kelly proved how effective he can be when operating from further out the field last year, so by playing him at corner-forward it robs Kildare of a vital creative link. Even when he dropped a little deeper against Carlow he was nullified due to the mass of bodies inside the ’45, and the Athy man’s form has dropped off from where it was in 2017.

It really is a case of nothing to lose now for O’Neill and his players. The pressure is off them somewhat when they travel to Derry on Saturday because there are plenty of people who don’t expect them to win in Owenbeg. A run in the qualifiers is the best that the Lilywhites can hope for at this stage, but if their display against Carlow is repeated up north they will endure a 13th loss in a row and will be one of the first teams out of the championship.