Feely highlights Kildare need for stronger leadership in 2018
KILDARE let themselves down against Armagh in this year’s All-Ireland qualifiers and that’s a sentiment that they will bring with them to the fight in 2018 as they return to Division 1 football after a three-year absence, Kevin Feely has admitted.
Feely, a revelation at midfield where his catching in all three Leinster Championship matches against Laois, Meath and Dublin was such a feature, has made a quick and effective transition back to Gaelic football after a few seasons as a professional soccer player.
His performances for the Irish International Rules team in Australia embellished the view that he has quickly developed into one of the top midfielders in the country.
But after a progressive Leinster campaign for the team, the experience against Armagh frustrated him, he admitted, and they have since identified a lack of leadership as its source.
“We were devastated after that game, not just because we lost an All-Ireland qualifier, but we felt we didn’t perform. We felt Armagh outplayed us and got the better of us, tactically,” he stated.
TACTICS
“They got their tactics right and we weren’t able to deal with it as it was happening on the pitch. It showed a lack of leadership from ourselves and we very much recognised on the pitch what went wrong for us and how we didn’t react to adversity. We met something we hadn’t come across all year and weren’t able to deal with it. Just a complete change in kick-out strategy from the other team, how they dealt with our kick-out strategy.
“They had a different system to what we had come across altogether in terms of bringing midfield and half-forwards back into their own half leaving massive space for their three or four forwards that they left up. It completely left our backs exposed and it was very naive on our part on the pitch, not realising what was happening at the time. It’s something we reflected on and we’re hoping to maybe build on that next year.”
Feely was speaking ahead of next week’s Bord na Móna O’Byrne Cup start, a competition won by a Dublin team in early 2017, minus their 2016 All-Ireland-winning squad.
Dublin beat a Kildare side close to what their championship best would be but Feely doesn’t feel it was the shock that many in the county and beyond felt it was.
“Around the county it was a shock to the system but among the players it wasn’t that much. Anyone who was there would have known every one of those Dublin players from club championship, minor or U-21,” he said.
“We knew how strong they were going to be and, in fairness, we had a very strong team out. It was close enough to our championship team, it was January, no one is going to be hitting their peak in January. We don’t want to be hitting our peak in January in that respect,” he said, acknowledging it was a reality check for them at the right time.
Division 1 will be the perfect benchmark for Kildare, according to Feely, to see if 2017 really was progressive.
“The perception of you as a team in the country, if you are competing in Division 1, is that you are a top team and that’s what we want.
“We were happy with Division 2, getting promoted. But this year is the real test. If we can show that we are competitive in Division 1 and do ourselves justice in every game, do what Cian (O’Neill) is looking for out of us, hopefully we’ll be in a good position to bounce on.”
A soccer career with clubs like Charlton Athletic, Carlisle United and Newport County has taught him better defensive and tactical awareness and the importance of communication.
“In soccer your thought process is about not conceding and about being defensively set up well.
“Coming into midfield in that position, you’re in great areas of the pitch where you can make sure and communicate and organise that you are set up well. I’ve always tried to bring that into the set-up in Kildare whenever I’m playing so I think that was definitely something soccer helps with.”
STABILISED
Kildare’s opening league game is against Dublin in Croke Park, a fixture that didn’t go well for them during their previous Division 1 spell. But last year’s Leinster final has given them some sense that the gulf has stabilised at least.
“We were still disappointed after the Leinster final. The margin of victory was eight or nine points which is quite big even though plenty said our performance was quite good. The mistakes that we made that led to the goals, we would have felt were out of character for the year and we were really disappointed in that respect. Maybe we thought in the first few minutes the occasion affected us, causing us to do those things out of character.”
Feely has thrived with the introduction of the mark which he has described as a “brilliant rule.”
“It has encouraged teams to go long with their kicks a little bit more because their attacking platform is now in the middle third of the pitch, it’s a lot better than giving a ball to your corner-back and having to build an attack from there. It gives teams with a strong midfield an advantage for that attacking platform.”