O’NEILL: CROKER WOE HARMS US
CIAN O’NEILL has admitted his Kildare players’ confidence has been affected by their terrible Croke Park record.
The Lilies are back in Division 1 of the Allianz League and begin their campaign with a glamour clash against All-ireland holders Dublin on Saturday week.
The tie will be at Croke Park which hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for Kildare teams in recent seasons. They’ve won just one of their last 10 League and Championship games at GAA Headquarters and only five of their last 22.
They played there three times last year and lost the lot – to Galway in the Division 2 League final, Dublin in the Leinster final and Armagh in the All-ireland qualifiers.
Boss O’neill acknowledged it has dented their confidence though claimed it may not be as much a Croke Park issue as a concentration problem. O’neill said: “I think from a confidence perspective it is an issue. The facts aren’t very complimentary in terms of our performances in Croke Park.
“But if you put them in context, the only time we are in Croke Park is when we are in big matches, it’s never just a random match or a match within a league campaign.
“That being said, what was disappointing was that most of the matches were ones that we could have won. So maybe the issue isn’t just Croke Park, it’s how we deal with tight matches, close matches.
“In the last two years since I came in, we have lost seven games and – with the exception of the big two,
Dublin and Mayo.
“We haven’t lost any match by more than one score, and that includes two league finals and Westmeath in 2016.
“Most of those matches have been one-point games. Maybe if you are looking at it through a different lens you might ask why are we losing tight matches as opposed to why are we losing in Croke Park?”
O’neill said the answer to that one is simple enough.
The former Kerry coach continued: “Concentration across a 70-minute period. But I do feel that Division 1 will help us to develop that a little bit more this year.
“Division 1 teams, by virtue of being there for many years, are ruthless by nature, they’ll punish every single sloppy mistake you make.
“It happened in the Leinster final against Dublin last year, we had a good defensive performance in the League campaign, only conceded three goals, but then in a few minutes of madness we conceded two very soft goals to Dublin.
“And I think that’s because the top teams can be ruthless when they need to be.
“But we’ll learn. It could be learning the hard way, it could just be progression, but we’ll definitely learn in Division 1 to be a more focused team across 70 minutes.”
Kildare supporters and neutrals are hoping the Lilies can be the side that finally reels in Dublin in Leinster.
But O’neill cautioned: “The elephant in the room is always going to be Dublin, let’s be honest about it.
“They’re that bit further ahead of everybody.”