Quaid already looking to London shootout as injury-hit Lilies look to bounce back

Another weekend and another tough defeat for the Kildare hurlers as they fell to a fourth defeat in succession to Carlow on a scoreline of 3-15 to 1-6. Manager Joe Quaid was obviously hugely disappointed once again, but he remains realistic. Kildare are competing against teams use to playing at a higher level, and they along with London are the only two teams in Division 2A that will be battling it out in the Christy Ring Cup this year. That London have lost all of their games so far is no coincidence.

The hard thing to take is the level of performance at times however, and when the Lilywhites entered the dressing room trailing by 3-12 to 0-1 after an abysmal first half performance against Carlow there was simply no positives to take from the game. They did turn in a much-improved second half performance, outscoring the home side by 1-5 to 0-3.

“We were missing a lot of players, the team was changed again – not by choice – and I suppose our main focus was that we knew today that a win wouldn’t guarantee us survival,” said Quaid after the game.

“Was the attitude acceptable? No. I said it to them at half-time, and to be fair they brought a better attitude to the second half.”

“I was talking to Cormac Bonner [Carlow manager] after the game, and he said they came out for the second half to do to us what they did in the first half because they need the scoring difference.”

“I think that’s where we are. That’s the panel of players we have. We have a few injuries and it really hurts the team. It’s not an excuse, but we are where we are.”

So, what does a manager say to his players when they are losing by 20 points at half-time? Not a lot about the first half notes Quaid, saying that the management and players had to park that 35 minutes and just try and eek something out of the game.

“The one thing we did do at half-time was forget about what happened,” he explained.

“There was absolutely nothing we could do about that first half, so we just had to park it and see what bit of pride was in them. To be fair, they did put in a very good second half performance. The teams we’re playing against, and the scoreboards don’t lie, they’re better than us.”

Next Sunday the hurlers travel to London in a shootout to determine who remains in the division. A win will keep the Lilywhites there, likewise for London, but it is impossible to call at this stage. Kildare will be without Bernard Deay who is sidelined for 10 weeks with a shoulder injury, while Martin Fitzgerald will be assessed after going off injured against Carlow. Mark Grace and Paul Divilly are also major doubts, while Quaid is hopeful that James Burke can return from injury but concedes he is also a doubt.

“We’re under no illusions as to what we’re facing going there,” said Quaid.

“We kind of surmised at the start of the year when we saw the draw and the way the fixtures were done that last game London, probably like two years ago when we looked at the fixtures and it was last game Derry, the winner takes it all,” he continued, stating that Kildare’s season essentially starts here as they look ahead to the Christy Ring Cup too.

“As I said to them there, whatever has happened before here, next Sunday is championship. We had a great league last year and a shite Christy Ring – let’s call a spade a spade. Our main focus this year from the start was to get a panel together to have a go at the Christy Ring, and that’s our main focus, but our real preparation for the Christy Ring starts next weekend.”