O’Neill aims to build on fast start

Last year, Kildare lost their first two games in Division 2 of the Allianz Football League yet still managed to regroup and achieve promotion to the top flight.

This time around, the Lilywhites have steamed into their Division 1 campaign, with Saturday night’s win over Cork following on from victory against Donegal, leaving them on maximum points with Dublin and Tyrone.

Midfielder Pádraig O’Neill was excellent for Kieran McGeeney’s side at Páirc Uí Rinn, but he is keen to ensure that Kildare feet remain on the ground.

“It’s a good position to be in, two wins from two,” he said.

“If we get another win hopefully we’ll be looking at the play-offs, but we won’t be getting carried away.

“I can remember last year in the league, Monaghan and Meath both had great starts and then ended up getting relegated.

“One loss and you never know, you could still end up getting relegated with six points, so nobody’s taking anything for granted.”

Prior to Saturday, the last meeting between Cork and Kildare had been August’s All-Ireland football quarter-final, when Conor Counihan’s side enjoyed a 13-point win. With lessons learned from that loss, Kildare ensured that they would not be easily cut open this time.

“Last year they steamrolled us, once they got ahead of us they pulled away,” O’Neill said.

“We hung in there on Saturday night, maybe the conditions helped, Cork like to move the ball quickly and they weren’t able to do that.

“In the second half the whole team just tried to lift the intensity really, we were a bit slow and sluggish in the first half.

“Cork are a big physical side, it can be tough to get to grips with them straight away. We probably broke a few more balls in the second half and that helped. It was a good game for us, it’ll definitely bring us on anyway.”