Defeat not an option as Kildare grind it out

THEY get knocked down, but they always get up again.

Much more of this and we can start setting our clocks by this Kildare team. They get bundled out of Leinster. They rip through the qualifiers. They reach an All-Ireland quarter-final. Four years, four identical scripts.

It’s an achievement worth dwelling on a tad longer. Most counties find it difficult to raise themselves for one solitary charge through the qualifiers. Kildare have gritted their teeth and slogged those hard yards time and again since 2008.

You can question their ability, you can talk about their lack of Grade-A scoring forwards and their failure to beat a Division 1 team under Kieran McGeeney thus far, but you cannot doubt this team just doesn’t know when to quit.

“Defeats are something you have to live with in any sport,” said Geezer. “You take the Kerry players, someone like Darragh Ó Sé, who has six All-Irelands. He has been beaten eight times so he has been beaten more times in the 14 or 15 years he has played.

“So, it is tough and something you have to learn to deal with and something that is going to become more and more relevant in Gaelic football as they tweak the championship format. You have to be able to handle the defeat and come back.”

In a way, this defeat of Derry didn’t really tell us a whole lot we didn’t already know about Kildare. We know they can beat the Derrys, the Meaths and the Monaghans of this world and this was a Derry team that was seriously compromised.

Already groggy from the loss of two Bradleys to long-term injuries, John Brennan’s team needed the smelling salts just to recover in time for this assignment six short days after the loss of an Ulster final to Donegal.

They made a decent fist of it.

The pair were level six times inside half an hour but the Ulster men were the first to tire of all that slugging and Kildare pulled into the game’s first significant lead prior to the half-time bell before landing eight more blows to Derry’s five after the restart.

This was the third time in five years these two had met in the qualifiers and familiarity seemed to breed an element of contempt with off-the-ball scuffles and bouts of handbags peppering the pitch throughout.

That said, there was just one whiff of controversy and it came after only 19 minutes when Enda Muldoon’s fist to the net was chalked off for square ball in an incident that mirrored Graham Geraghty’s cancelled effort against Kildare last month.

Not only was it scored in the same Hill 16 end, but the referee was the same Syl Doyle and the umpire he instructed to signal his decision with the crossed flags was his son Ricky. The difference this time was that they got it right.

John Brennan was livid with the loss of that goal afterwards but had the good grace to accept Kildare played some wonderful football, and he wasn’t wrong. Some of their scores were a joy to behold.

Nineteen points is a decent tally in any man’s language. James Kavanagh claimed four of them and Thomas O’Connor half that again but they were fed consistently and effectively, mostly from their half-back line, throughout the 70 minutes.

“We got some good scores, nice ones from play as well,” said McGeeney.

“James really took his points and Tom as well. There was probably a five- or ten-minute period at the beginning of the first-half when we probably could have hit another four or five scores and you would like to have those at that particular time but we will try and work on that for next week.”

Work. That’s the one word that sums up this Kildare side to a tee. Kavanagh gets the nod as man of the match here but it is meant as a compliment to them when we say it was hard to pick out one man more influential than any other.

Their movement, delivery of long kick passes and support play was superb and their willingness to grind was apparent in the multitude of times Derry surged forward only to stall in front of a defensive wall and play the ball backwards.

All that is left for them is to break the glass ceiling and claim that elite scalp and surf as far as September. They have already generated waves with the defeats of Laois, Meath and Derry. Now they must make the biggest splash of all.

“We’re happy to be here but, let’s be honest, you want to go further and we have a big step to go up now with the four provincial winners this year,” said McGeeney before yesterday’s draw.

“Whoever we get, we are in for a mammoth battle.”

So are they.

Scorers for Kildare: J Doyle 0-6fs, J Kavanagh 0-4, T O’Connor, R Kelly 0-2 each, H McGrillen, P O’Neill, E O’Flaherty, E Callaghan, R Sweeney 0-1 each.

Scorers for Derry: C Gilligan 0-4 (3fs), D Mullan 0-3, SL McGoldrick, G O’Kane, J Diver, B McGoldrick, E Muldoon, J Kielt (f) 0-1 each.

Subs for Kildare: O Lyons for White (24), R Sweeney for Flynn (64), F Dowling for E O’Flaherty (70), D Hendy for McGrillen (70).

Subs for Derry: PJ McCloskey for Friel (41), M Bateson for J Kielt (44), M Donaghy for Lynch (48), C O’Boyle for C Kielt (64).

Referee: S Doyle (Wexford).