Cian O’Neill: Kildare starting with clean slate

The new Kildare manager Cian O’Neill insists there’s no sign of shattered confidence in his inherited panel but accepts he won’t know for sure if they’ve overcome last summer’s disasters until they’re placed in a sticky position again.

The Lilies pulled off one of the shocks of the Championship by knocking out Cork to reach the All-Ireland quarter-finals but were then heavily beaten by Kerry.

That 7-16 to 0-10 drubbing from the Kingdom was Kildare’s second huge defeat of the summer having previously lost to Dublin by 19 points in the Leinster semi-finals.