Brogan: We can’t underestimate dangerous Kildare

BERNARD BROGAN believes Dublin will have to up their workrate against Kildare in Sunday’s Leinster semi-final at Croke Park or face another venture into the All-Ireland qualifiers.

Pat Gilroy’s side enjoyed a gentle reintroduction to championship football this summer with an eight-point win over a limited Laois earlier this month but Brogan spotted some worrying signs in victory.

“Pat has been relatively happy with us since the Laois game,” Brogan said in his new blog for Hill 16, the official Dublin county board website.

“There were a lot of positives but still areas that we need to work on.

“There was a serious drop in our workrate at times and this needs addressing as it leaves the lads at the back exposed. Kildare are a top-six team in the last three years and I’ve been impressed with what Kieran McGeeney has done.

“As forwards, we know we’ll have to keep a close eye on the Kildare defenders because they are up and down non-stop, tracking, attacking and capable of scoring and will take some stopping.”

Brogan has been impressed with McGeeney’s influence on a Kildare side which boasts an impressive physical pedigree with a collection of talented individual performers, led by the incomparable John Doyle.

“They’ll have a pep in their step after the way they pulled away from Meath. Doyle has been roaming out around midfield and proving very hard to mark and that’s an obvious area of concern for us. He has so much energy and is running like a young fella.

“Kildare have kicked a lot of wides but they’ve had the luxury of dominating possession to do so and can still kick a big score. They kicked 18 points against us two years ago (the Leinster final) and it was skin of the teeth stuff in a cracking contest to see them off.

“Their strength is their ability to pour forward and kick scores from all over the place. Their wing-backs, midfield and forwards will come up and have a go and that means every one of us will have to be on guard.”

Both Kildare and Dublin have profited from provincial disappointments in recent years by rebounding to All-Ireland semi-finals but Brogan has no desire to experience a repeat of last year’s odyssey through the secondary route.

“I know people thought going the back door route was our salvation last year to reaching the semi-finals, but there is no one in the Dublin camp interested in the scenic route in 2011.

“If we end up there, no doubt we will make the most of it but it is not our intention to be there.

“Leinster titles mean a lot to me and I would like to get the Delaney Cup back. We’ve had a good run in Leinster recently but my brother Alan was part of a team that ended a seven-year Leinster famine in 2002 which isn’t that long ago...

“We know Sunday is going to be a huge battle but it’s exactly days like this was the reason we were training at 6am back in the freezing winter for.”