Kildare SFC: Former county stars make winning starts to management careers

Moorefield manager Ronan Sweeney. Picture: INPHO/Morgan Treacy

It was a good weekend for new managers around Kildare as the senior football championship got underway.

Ronan Sweeney won more Kildare senior titles than anybody else in his illustrious playing career and his first Championship match in the dugout for Moorefield went off without a hitch. Kerryman Eanna O’Connor scored 12 points, ten frees, without kicking a wide in a 2-20 to 1-6 win over Carbury. The goals came in either half from Ciaran Kelly and Ian Meehan and an injury time strike from Sean Haslem with almost the last kick of the game wasn’t much of a consolation for the losers.

Former Laois footballer Billy O’Loughlin got the better of a Johnstowbridge side managed by his uncle Luke Dempsey as Sarsfields began the defence of their title with a comfortable win. Shane Doyle and Conor Hartley scored first-half goals in a 2-17 to 0-10 success.

Tadhg Fennin was another former Kildare legend making his first steps in management and his St Laurences team defeated Eadestown by 0-14 to 0-12.

Meath man Dave Clare also enjoyed a big win in his first Kildare Championship game when Celbridge romped to a 4-20 to 2-7 win over Confey. David Hughes scored a hat-trick of goals, Mick O’Grady also hit the net, but teenager Aaron Browne stole the show by scoring six points from play on his senior championship debut.

Frank Hanniffy was another manager to enjoy a first Championship win when his Raheens team beat Maynooth by 3-9 to 0-8. Hanniffy won a Leinster title with Moorefield as a player in 2006 and was a selector under Ross Glavin when his club won their second provincial title in 2017 and goals from Paddy Woodgate (penalty), Liam Power and Nicholas Kennedy gave his Raheens team an easy win.

At the other end of the managerial spectrum is Glenn Ryan but the Round Towers and Kildare legend saw his team deliver one of the results of the weekend when they beat Naas by 1-11 to 0-11 while the biggest win of the weekend saw Clane hammer last year’s intermediate champions Monasterevan by 3-17 to 0-2. Goals from Kyle Devey, Ethan O’Donoghue and Cavan’s Ciaran Brady helped seal the deal.

In the Intermediate Championship, the evergreen Johnny Doyle began his 25th Championship season for Allenwood and continued his scarcely believable record of appearing in every Championship game for his club since making his debut in 1996. He’s not just making up the numbers either, he scored six points as they shocked Two Mile House by 1-15 to 0-7.