Kildare football in turmoil on two fronts
TENSION over funding between Kildare LGFA chiefs and its senior football panel is believed to have triggered the collapse of the county board executive on Wednesday night. At an EGM, the executive offered its resignation en bloc which it claimed that delegates ‘accepted’ despite reports that some club representatives pleaded with the top table to reconsider. Tensions between the board and Kildare squad, managed by former Mayo All-Star Diana Horan, are understood to have persisted for several months, with reports that no members of the executive attended a function to celebrate last year’s All-Ireland intermediate victory by the Lilywhites. Amid reports that new members of the squad were left short of gear, the relationship between the executive and players reached breaking point after an agreement had been reached to increase the team budget from €120,000 to €180,000. However, it is understood the executive wanted a contribution understood to be in excess of €30,000 from the LGFA centrally to be absorbed in the €60,000 increase, which the management and players opposed. Meanwhile, trouble is also simmering on the Kildare men’s front, after its county board chairperson Mick Gorman told club representatives that he had met with senior manager Glenn Ryan on Monday and expressed his concern at the team’s poor start to the Allianz League, which has seen them lose to Cavan and Fermanagh. ‘I spoke to the management for a long time about the situation and the necessity that performances and results have to greatly improve; we are fully aware that results are not good enough,’ Gorman told club delegates.