On this very weekend last year, Kildare played Dublin in a Leinster semi-final and they led by a point after an hour of football.
Dublin ultimately ran out two-point winners, and while we hadn’t played well, nobody in our dressingroom needed to be told Kildare had made it difficult for us.,We were aware their approach and tactical play that afternoon caused us problems.
Three weeks later, in Kildare’s next game, they drew with Sligo – who had been playing in Division Four that season and entered the All-Ireland round-robin on the back of a 14-point Connacht final loss to Galway.
We then beat Kildare by nine points in round two of the All-Ireland group stages, before Glenn Ryan’s side produced a big performance in their third fixture to beat Roscommon.
The whole episode was a microcosm of Kildare football – the round-robin acting as a perfect illustration of the inconsistency that has accompanied them for years – three games, one win, one defeat, one draw.
That mini rollercoaster of form came on the back of Kildare’s Leinster semi-final performance against us in Croke Park.
They set up quite defensively and frustrated us in that encounter, and from my experience playing against Kildare it was one of those rare occasions when it seemed they were on the same wavelength from a tactical perspective.
Because there were games against them over the years when you looked across the pitch and realised the players weren’t all on the same page as regards what they should be doing.
The lack of consistency in their play must be massively frustrating for Kildare supporters – you wouldn’t be surprised to see them put it up to Kerry one week but then go out and lose to Wicklow seven days later.
They just don’t seem to have any identity in terms of how they are looking to play the game and it’s an obvious area where they fall down. It makes them an easy team to play against, opponents know that if you perform against Kildare the chances are you’ll come away with a win.
The stakes are huge for Ryan’s side this weekend.
The Dublin defenders would rank players like Daniel Flynn and Ben McCormack as some of the best individually talented forwards they have marked over the years.
But Kildare don’t seem to know how to utilise those guys to get the most from them for the good of the team. They are quite rudderless in terms of their attack – Kildare posted the lowest scoring tally of all 16 teams between Divisions One and Two in the league this season.
Their total of 82 points represents an average of just 11.7 points per game. Take out the Cork match when they scored 3-9, which was an anomaly as they managed just one other goal over the course of the entire league, and their average per game drops to 10 points. That is not nearly good enough at this level.
So, whatever they are doing offensively, it hasn’t been working and it should be a massive concern for them. They scored 16 points against Wicklow last time out, which is the highest number of scores they have managed so far, but they could very easily have lost that game against a team relegated from Division Three this season.
I have no doubt the Kildare players are putting in the hours and the training required, and I have no doubt they are making all the sacrifices needed, but when a team finds itself in a rut – losing all seven games in the league – it can be difficult to turn your season around.
They have a chance of doing just that on Sunday, but as a group you need to have the characters in the room to pull yourself out of such a hole, and in that sense they seem to be devoid of leaders.
There is a feeling of a team just trudging through the season and waiting for somebody to put them out of their misery. I don’t see them turning their year around.
The mix of management and players, for whatever reason, there doesn’t seem to be a genuine cohesion to the group. It’s not working at the minute.
Perhaps some lads already have their eyes on spending a summer in America, and if they end up in the Tailteann Cup I’d imagine you’ll see changes to the panel.
There could be loads going on in the background of which we are not aware, but ultimately the players are going out to represent their county, their club, they are going out playing with their best friends, they have a responsibility to perform and leave all that other stuff at the door.
This is where leadership is really needed. In fairness to Kevin Feely, he always performs consistently and is constantly trying to drive on the players around him, but Kildare need to get more from the likes of Daniel Flynn, Mick O’Grady and Eoin Doyle.
I just think Louth are a bit further ahead right now in terms of being more mentally resilient, they look to be better coached and have a stronger sense of identity in terms of how they want to play. The players all appear to be on the same wavelength.
For Kildare to win on Sunday, they will probably have to rely on individual brilliance from a Flynn or a Kevin Feely, whereas Louth can win because of their systematic approach and their tactical nous – the strength of the collective as opposed to placing all your chips on one or two players delivering big displays. All of that gives Louth an advantage at the start line.
Croke Park will also suit the Wee County as they carry a broad scoring threat – Sam Mulroy is regularly their standout forward, but Ciarán Downey and Ryan Burns are very talented players, and I have been hugely impressed by Ciarán Keenan at centre forward.
It was probably viewed as a difficult task to try fill the shoes left by Mickey Harte in Louth, but Ger Brennan has done a really good job so far – not that I’m surprised.
I was lucky to play with Ger for a few years with Dublin, and he was brilliant in that centre back role where his communication was always on point and he understood instinctively where to be on the pitch.
He’s a likeable guy, smart, very intelligent from a tactical perspective and he would have picked up a huge amount from working with Mickey Whelan and Pat Gilroy.
Crucially, for a new manager, he seems to have built up a good relationship with the Louth players. As a group, they are building on what Harte and Gavin Devlin started.
Ger hasn’t gone in and ripped up the foundations of what had been put in place, instead he has added a few layers to the team’s development, and Louth actually look to carry more of a scoring threat this season.
It all amounts to a significant challenge for the Lilywhites. And if they don’t perform on Sunday, their spiralling season will tumble downwards to the sobering reality of the Tailteann Cup – because Kildare are all out of safety nets.
