Quaid buoyed by effort and impressed by debutantes despite heavy Laois defeat in season opener

Kildare hurling manager Joe Quaid was optimistic despite a 10-point defeat to Laois on Saturday afternoon, pointing to the fact that a number of young players made their senior debuts on a day when a number of former panellists returned to the setup. With Paul Sullivan, Diarmuid Cahill, James Burke and Cathal Dowling all making their debuts from the start, Barry Cormack, Simon Lacey and Cathal Dervan also made their first senior appearances off the bench in the second half.

Throw into the mix the returns of Kevin Whelan, Eanna O'Neill and Mark Delaney, and Quaid's options look more rounded compared to previous seasons. While it was far from a crisp display from the Lilywhites, Quaid was pleased with the effort nonetheless.

"It was great to get back," said Quaid following the game.

"It was a game we were extremely worried about because we were missing a lot of what you would call regulars through injuries and sickness, so we threw in an awful lot of young lads. I’m extremely happy after today. The technical side, we suffered – our shooting was off a bit. I just asked them before the match to take learnings from it and give effort and workrate. To be fair, I couldn’t fault them on any of that."

While the effort cannot be faulted, there were obvious problems with the gameplan that Kildare employed. Cathal Dowling and Richie Ryan were left in the full-forward line by themselves in the first half while Jack Sheridan was deployed as a third midfielder, a tactic which failed to work as Kildare couldn't manage to get their hands on possession in the final third.

Quaid outlined his reasoning for that gameplan.

"We were playing into a very strong wind and we ended up playing three quarters of the match against a very strong wind. Any plans we had really for the first half kind of went out the window. It was a case of – especially against the wind – survival and getting in, within reasonable touching distance.

"We weren’t expecting ball in. We were hoping to get a bit of ball loose around the half-forward line and that. That was mainly because of the wind; it wasn’t the plan coming up until we saw the wind. I thought we did well. We conceded very few goal chances; we didn’t get overrun, which Laois like to do. Laois will come at you in waves and we set up to stem that. Obviously in the second half we had planned to push on, but it’s very hard to do that when you’re down to 14."

Out of the debutants, the Limerick native was extremely impressed by Naas man James Burke who scored a point in the second half, while also namechecking his club teammates Paul Sullivan and Kevin Whelan, the latter making his first appearance in white since 2014.

"I thought James Burke was outstanding today," beamed Quaid.

"18 years of age and he just showed an unbelievable appetite for the game. Paul Sullivan the same. Titch [Kevin Whelan] is back again and I thought he hurled extremely well. It’s good to have the new young lads, like Cathal Dowling who is 18 got introduced and had his first match at senior level. All we want from these matches is learning. We were lucky or unlucky – whichever way you want to look at it – to draw teams of the calibre of Laois and Kilkenny, but that’s what we want. We don’t meet them in the championship or the league, so it’s nice to go out and test your wares. Out of the two with the supposed gulf in class and with the amount of players we were missing, I think we’re nearly the happier coming out after the match."

"Eammon Kelly said it after that if we had taken some of the handy frees or scores that we missed we were right in the game, even with 14. I’d be happy."

While this game may have represented a very early start to the 2018 season, the league opener against Meath in Newbridge is fast approaching on January 28. Quaid prioritised league survival in 2017 rather than really aiming hard at the Christy Ring Cup, and it paid dividends to a certain extent as the Lilywhites almost made it to a league final. This year Kerry and Meath will provide stern opposition in the league, and Quaid said that it is a balancing act this year when it comes to putting effort into both competitions.

"It’s a balancing act this year," he said.

"Last year I made no bones about it because of the quality we were playing in the league, and I knew there was probably a change coming in to the championship, so it was vital we stayed in the league. A couple of results came our way and we gained momentum and we were a puck of the ball away from a league final. We probably won’t go as bald-headed this year for the league as we did last year, but we still will treat it with the utmost of respect it deserves. It’s tough this year; you’ve Meath coming up and Kerry coming back down, so there are no easy teams in the league this year. I suppose if you go into a bookies we’d probably be favourites for relegation, but we don’t see it that way."

Next up for the Lilywhites is a rare clash with Kilkenny, who will be without former midfield lynchpin Michael Fennelly who announced his retirement over the Christmas.

"Sure look, it’s great for the lads," said Quaid of the Kilkenny challenge.

"Will they ever get a chance to go up against Kilkenny? This year I think we could be facing a strong team. Look, I suppose the fact that they are playing us this week probably decided Michael Fennelly’s future… he didn’t want to face up to us."