STAKES HY FOR CHASING PACK
EMERGING star Jimmy Hyland is hoping Kildare can translate underage success against Dublin to the senior stage.
Hyland was named as the Eirgrid Under-20 Player of the Year yesterday after Kildare’s Leinster and All-ireland success, culminating in a 10-point haul against Mayo in the All-ireland final for the Ballyteague ace (below).
They made fairly light work of Dublin in the provincial decider and, while Kildare have enjoyed a number of wins against the Dubs at underage in recent years, they haven’t beaten them at senior level since 2000.
“Dublin, they’re on a different level at the minute,” said Hyland. “It’s up to us, the likes of Kildare, to try to bridge that gap.
“Dublin aren’t coming back to the pack any time soon. It’ll take one of us to bridge the gap. It’s going to take a lot of hard work.
“I’ve played them twice, played them in minor in 2015 and this year in the 20s and won both times.
“We wouldn’t fear them at our age like. They’re good at our age, no doubting it, but we wouldn’t fear them the way the seniors have been feared.”
Hyland was involved peripherally with the Kildare seniors this year also. They recovered from League relegation and a shock Championship loss to Carlow to reach the ‘Super 8s’, where they lost all three games.
He continued: “I think there’s very good players in Kildare but it’s consistency. There just seems to be no consistency, well with the seniors really. There’s good underage talent, it’s just trying to gel it all together.”
The rules surrounding the newly created under-20 grade don’t allow players to play Championship football at that level once they’ve played senior Championship that year. Hyland featured for Kildare seniors in this year’s League only and added: “You would like to play both but with player welfare and that I don’t know how possible it all is. We played eight Championship games this year with the under-20s.”