Lilywhites can turn fortunes around against Laois
IF THERE is one lesson all the great pretenders out there can learn from Kildare’s traumatic defeat in their last championship game against Down last August, it is surely that in order to win big matches, you must have an element of luck on your side as well. Between scores that were and shouldn’t have been, to scores that weren’t and should’ve been, to Kalum King’s fingertip save from Robert Kelly’s last-second free kick, Kildare simply had no luck on the day. Watching his team suffer as much misfortune as any team possibly could in 70 minutes, one would have forgiven Kieran McGeeney if he were to curse the gods of fate but true to style, the Armagh man got on with his business in a dignified manner, and time has moved on too.
Having won the O’Byrne Cup in January and having begun the league campaign by beating Antrim by nine points, one would have thought that Kildare would have kicked on in recent weeks and consolidated their credentials as likely promotion candidates by mid March. That it hasn’t happened is down to a combination of two very disappointing performances against Derry and Donegal and the absence of some key players, including All Star corner back Peter Kelly, the suspended Darryl Flynn and the talismanic Dermot Earley. After some indifferent performances and the disappointment of an U21 championship exit in midweek, tomorrow’s game against neighbours and rivals Laois in Newbridge presents an ideal opportunity to get back on track.
Based on the evidence of the opening three rounds of the league, Kildare have an awful lot of toil to get through before they get anywhere near the level that brought them so tantalisingly close to the prize last summer. The concession of a miserly 0-32 in the games so far (the lowest in the top three divisions and the only team apart from Longford in all four divisions not to concede a goal) would appear to suggest a genuine stability at the back but that would be to ignore their annoying tendency to over-complicate things when coming from the back with the ball. For a team who had perfected the art of taking the ball out of defence as safely and as quickly as possible, Kildare, in recent weeks, have developed an unwanted habit of turning over possession by being casual with their passing. Hugh McGrillen has been carrying the can for his defensive colleagues so far and even Mick Foley got in on the act with a late goal against Donegal last time out, but as a unit, the Kildare defence are capable of so much more.
Two points from play from their starting six forwards against Donegal suggests the Kildare attack isn’t motoring as it should be either. Fionn Dowling has got supporters in the county excited with some audacious point-taking in earlier games but a hectic spring schedule can tire out such a young player and his talents will have to be carefully nurtured if he is to make an impact later this year. John Doyle’s considerable talents are probably best employed closer to the goal but many of the emerging talents in Kildare football are inside forwards and they must be given their chance in their natural habitats. Kieran McGeeney, Aidan O’Rourke and Niall Carew are well aware of what Doyle is capable of, so there’s nothing to learn by planking him in around the goal with a few piranhas in the full-back line hacking him out before the serious stuff begins.
McGeeney and Rourke’s colleague in the Armagh defence of a bygone era, Justin McNulty, appears to have got the message out to the libertines in Laois that the serious business has already begun. Three wins from three games puts them in pole position for promotion at this early stage but it may garner them some unwanted attention too. I’m sure McNulty would prefer his flowers to be blushing unseen these days but the demolition of Derry in Celtic Park (who had beaten Kildare in Newbridge the previous week) ensured that they were always going to spike our curiosity. The full-forward line of Munnelly, Sheehan and Tierney might dazzle some more full-back lines before the league campaign is out but it remains to be seen if they can stand up to some of the darker arts of modern day defending. Tomorrow’s game should want for nothing in terms of aggression, with a few of the players on the field having served suspensions this time last year after a particularly fiery O’Byrne Cup match between the two sides.
Darren Strong and Kevin Meaney seem to be settling into their roles at wing back and full back respectively and Strong will be particularly encouraged by his posting of three points in successive games. McNulty will recall the primacy of a stable and unchanging defence from his time as a player in Armagh and it would appear that by selecting the same backs in successive games, he’s sending out a message that those in possession of jerseys 1 to 7 will have to be unseated by all wannabe or would-be backs. One such player, who is given a different role this year is Colm Begley at wing-forward. Looking every bit the real deal when winning the player of the tournament in last autumn’s international rules series, Begley has been given a new lease of life this spring and he could become a key player in any of McNulty’s game plans later on this year. His presence in the Laois forward line has helped football folk in Laois forget about Colm Parkinson and Craig Rogers’ departures and even talk of that other want-away Conor Meredith’s whereabouts is confined to idle internet chat and curious speculation.
There are so many beguiling sub-plots to what should be a routine March fixture between the Leinster neighbours that tomorrow’s game in Newbridge should draw a bigger crowd than usual. People are curious about many things in both counties right now.
The abrupt recent departure of Kildare county board chairman, Pádraig Ashe, has only added to the intrigue, with some pointing to it as further evidence of McGeeney’s inability or unwillingness to fit in with the establishment. There appears to be an appetite for such stuff in all walks of life these days and Justin McNulty’s strange and inspired union with Laois football will probably rattle a few cages before his time is up too.
If there is such a thing as a must-win league game these days, Kildare appear to be in that parish at the minute.
They were one defeat away from relegation in Division Two as well last year and it didn’t do them any long term damage. Given that their need for two league points is greater this time out and their capacity for toil greater, we can expect them to earn fortune’s expensive smile at home in Newbridge tomorrow.
