Ryan resigned to sitting on the bench

GLEN RYAN won't be holding his breath in anticipation of the Kildare team announcement this evening.

The former captain, an inspirational force behind the team’s march to the 1998 All-Ireland final and again in their Leinster triumph two years ago, is resigned to sitting out the start from the substitutes’ bench.

More positively, he is happy to be part of the panel after a series of injuries which saw him undergo surgery twice already this year. In his 13th season, he is coming back to fitness and is nearly right. Predictably, he only wants to look forward, rather than having regrets about his bad luck.

“I don’t want to talk about the injuries, I’m fed up talking about them,” he said, in an inoffensive way. Being realistic, he doesn’t expect to be named in the team. “I wouldn’t think so, because the lads who are there are doing very well. Damien (Hendy) has done excellently (in his position, at centre-back). You couldn’t start changing around the team now, especially when lads have fitted in so well into the team,” he added.

“It would be great to be playing, but there are lads sitting on the bench an awful lot longer than I am. I wouldn’t have anything to crib about. You have to fight for your place. That’s the way it goes.”

Ryan, dividing his time these days between football and running a pub in Newbridge, accepts that Kildare’s form so far hasn´t been the best.

“The team can play better than what it has, but it’s improving. We have improved since the Louth match and we can only hope that we keep on improving. We’ll have to if we are to keep up with Dublin.”