Preview: Cian O'Neill's Kildare set for crucial League tie against ever improving Banner county

The result of this afternoon’s game will go a long way in shaping the course of the rest of the League for both Kildare and Clare.

The teams are deadlocked on three points each with identical records after a win, draw and a loss to their names after three games with just a better score difference pushing the Banner men higher up the Division 2 Table.

Clare may be mostly hurling country but the fortunes of the footballers has dramatically increased in the past few seasons and they will come to Newbridge fully expecting to take the victory.

Clare’s upturn has coincided with Colm Collins time as manager and he has proven himself to be a serious operator as he has led his team to arguably number two in Munster behind the might of Kerry.

This is his sixth year in charge and the Cratloe man who incidentally led his Club to their first ever County Title before taking on this job has saw his team improve year on year.

For many their greatest achievement was defeating today’s opposition in the Division 3 National Football League Final back in 2016 and they have proven to be something of a bogey team for Kildare.

Kildare and Clare have barely come across each other but between 2014 and 2017, they met on four occasions with the Lillywhites holding sway in three of the four games and remarkably only a point separated them in all but one.

The first tie occurred in a qualifier down in Ennis with Kildare coming from six points down to snatch a 0-13 to 0-12 victory before Clare got a degree of payback for an earlier defeat in that League Final as Gary Brennan put in a stellar individual display that saw his team reign supreme at GAA HQ with a Dean Ryan stoppage time goal proving crucial.

The last meeting then arrived a year later with Kildare sealing their second consecutive promotion and a step up to Division 1 after a couple of late Paul Cribbin scores rubberstamped an 0-18 to 1-14 success.

Kildare would only spend one year at that level but despite a mediocre start its still somewhere they hope to get back to over the next month or so.

With four games over the next five weekends it’s a vital period for Cian O’Neill’s side and anything but a win will have them looking down rather than up.

If truth be told they haven’t been overly impressive in any of the games with a late Jimmy Hyland free snatching a draw in game one against Armagh before they got over Cork in Pairc Ui Chaoimh for a game better remembered for the state of the pitch.

The worst of the lot came a fortnight ago when Kildare only managed a solitary point from play as they went down to Fermanagh in a dour affair in Enniskillen.

It was probably the most disappointing performance since the Carlow debacle last year so it will be interesting to see what changes have been made in the meantime.

The Two Mile House trio of Mark Sherry, Chris Healy and Peter Kelly have since returned to the squad from club duty and that is sure to give everyone a boost as well as a challenge game victory over Offaly last weekend.

Offaly aren’t Clare though and Kildare will need to produce their best performance of the year to come away victorious.

Unlike Kildare, Clare went into the break in a joyous mood after they easily accounted for Cork at home.

That result came on the back of a narrow defeat to Donegal and a hard fought draw with Armagh so they will be reasonably pleased at their standing.

One thing they do seem to have over the hosts at the moment is a goal threat after scoring four goals to date.

You can count the amount of goal chances Kildare have created on one hand and the one they did get was from the penalty spot and the loss of Daniel Flynn and Niall Kelly looks to be affecting them in this regard.

Goals may be vital in today’s game and in a Division where three points separate the top from the bottom, points are certainly at a premium.

Kildare and Clare are crunched in the middle of the pack and if the last four meetings are anything to go by there is very little between the sides.

This one could go to the wire.