Striking a balance between league and championship key for Kildare ahead of a big year

Kildare have sprung up the divisions as quickly in the past couple of years as rapidly as they tumbled down the tiers in the preceding years, evidence of the volatile nature for counties operating somewhere between the absolute elite and the absolute hapless.

Of the 32 teams competing in the four tiers of the National League there are six who haven’t moved division in the past five seasons; Dublin, Kerry and Mayo have remained in Division 1, while Carlow, Leitrim and London have never broken the Division 4 glass ceiling.

Over the same timeframe Kildare have made it to a Division 1 league semi-final, suffered two successive relegations, and then pulled together two promotions on the trot thereafter. Kieran McGeeney’s experienced side competed well in 2013 when they battled away in Division 1, but under Jason Ryan the Lilywhites had tumbled to the third tier by the time he was relieved of his duties and replaced by Cian O’Neill in 2015.

The first task at hand for O’Neill was to claw a youthful team out of Division 3, and that was achieved with minimum fuss even despite a league final loss to Clare. Last year brought a return to a level that Kildare would be perceived to be at, competing with the likes of Meath, Galway, Down and so on, but a remarkably excellent campaign brought about another promotion.

Whether or not Kildare are ready for such a step up in class remains to be seen, though this youthful group of players have proved adept at meeting most challenges they’ve faced under O’Neill. There was certainly no plan in place for promotion last year despite the good performances, with the manager even referencing a steep unforeseen climb after they sealed their re-entry to Division 1.

“I don’t think they could have foreseen how the climb was going to be this year, how steep it was going to be,” he said.

“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.

Kildare are the favourites for relegation, with Galway second favourites after both sides came up from Division 2. It’s easy to see the bookmakers’ thinking behind that; Dublin, Kerry and Mayo are undoubtedly the three best teams in the country, Tyrone lay a bit further behind, and Monaghan have proved themselves to be a very proficient league side over the last three years.

Then there is the relative unknown of Donegal, who possess plenty of class but find themselves under new management once again. The danger for a county like Donegal is that they will be targeting championship success rather than league glory, perhaps adding weight to the concerns in the northwest that they could fall into a relegation battle akin to last year.

Recent Division 1 campaigns have shown us that coming up into Division 1 is an extremely tough ask for a young team. In the past five years there has only been one instance where at least one team promoted from Division 2 has not plummeted straight back down into the second tier at the first time of asking. That came in 2015 when experienced sides Monaghan and Donegal made the jump, and they were already used to competing at the top level in championship fare.

Kildare will most likely be looking at a team such as Roscommon who sprang relative surprises by gaining promotion to the elite in recent years. Cavan were relegated in their first year there in 2017, alongside Roscommon who managed to enjoy a fruitful first term at the top in 2016 when they made it to a league semi-final.

The experience of those two teams in their respective championships has reflected their efforts pumped into the league in recent years. In 2016, Roscommon focused their efforts on maintaining their Division 1 status and were eventually burnt out by the time it got around to the championship, losing a Connacht final replay to Galway in humiliating fashion before bowing out of the All-Ireland in their next game by suffering a shock loss to Clare. The following year saw the Rossies relegated from Division 1 as they looked to balance their year more evenly, and it paid dividends as they landed a Connacht title.

Kevin McStay admitted in 2016 that Roscommon had put all their eggs in the league basket, and the energy-sapping nature of competing against more conditioned and experienced teams on a weekly basis was their downfall once the ground hardened for summer action.

Cian O’Neill’s experience with the Mayo and Kerry footballers means that he has plenty of insight into the amount of effort that needs to be put in to a top flight challenge. Tailoring Kildare’s training programme to peak at two stages of the year is the ultimate balancing act, with form lapses and injuries almost unavoidable when playing at the very top.

O’Neill and his players made a concerted effort to focus on the league last year and was handsomely rewarded with promotion, and the settled nature of the side played a pivotal role. It is expected that the Lilywhites will have a settled enough team once again this year, though that is totally reliant on form and injuries once again.

A season in Division 1 could bring this team on no end, and if they manage to upset the bookmakers’ odds and survive in the top tier, they will have shown a huge degree of progress over the course of three short years.