GAA:THE ANNOUNCEMENT that Páirc Tailteann, Navan, will have a limited capacity of just 20,000 for Saturday evening's All-Ireland third-round football qualifier adds to an already tricky assignment for Kildare.
Not only will Meath be assured of the greater support in the tightly-packed venue, Kildare won’t want it to come down to a tight finish – at least not if Meath’s performance against Galway last Saturday is anything to go.
With the sides apparently inseparable and already well into injury-time, Stephen Bray popped up for the late, late winner, reviving the old adage that Meath are never done until the death.
There’ll also be the small matter of Meath seeking revenge for Kildare’s win in the Leinster quarter-final, six weeks earlier – a result perhaps defined by Graham Geraghty’s disallowed goal, and the disputed sending off of Meath’s Brian Farrell.
Normally, the Navan venue can hold up to 28,000, but this has been reduced by 8,000 for issues of health and safety, essentially to reduce the crowds on the grass terraces behind both goals. An estimated 17,000 watched Meath beat Galway, and Saturday’s promises to be a virtual sell-out.
Kildare, however, will start as favourites – and not just because they beat Meath 0-16 to 0-10 in their Leinster showdown. Kieran McGeeney’s team have been gathering momentum again since losing to Dublin in the Leinster semi-final, or rather gathering second-half momentum. They out-scored Laois 1-13 to 0-4 in the second half of the round-two qualifier last Saturday, winning 3-16 to 0-10, and truth is that’s been a sort of trend to their game under the former Armagh AllIreland winning captain.
There’s nothing wrong with saving some of your best football for the second half, but it can be a little risky – Kildare had the better of Down in the second half of last year’s All-Ireland semi-final, but after a late goal chance was deflected off the crossbar by Down’s Kalum King, they ended up losing by two points.
McGeeney is inevitably a little tired of having to explain why this is so, and usually points to the obvious – Kildare are creating plenty of chances in both halves, although probably converting more in the second, and isn’t that better than not creating any chances at all?
“We had a fair bit of possession in the first half against Laois and weren’t making it count,” he says of last Saturday’s display. “We had chances for scores and we weren’t taking them, which is frustrating.
“Laois were getting as many chances, but they were taking theirs. We changed things around a wee bit, and things started moving a wee bit better in the second half. Well I think we have been playing well in the first half too. We just haven’t been scoring well.”
Kildare’s superb fitness levels may gain their true worth as the game progresses, and yet against Dublin they kicked 50 per cent more wides, and dropped at least half a dozen shots short. Against Laois, they converted 19 scores from 34 chances while against Wicklow in the Leinster first round, they hit 17 wides in total.
“People have their own opinions as to why that is,” says McGeeney. “Against Dublin, after 20 minutes we were 0-3 to 0-2 up. Gary White took a bit of a knock and Dublin put 1-2 on the board in two or three minutes. And everybody said Dublin were comfortable. It’s hard to explain when things are tit for tat.
“We missed four scoring chances, two frees, and two from play, after going a point up. You can’t do that against quality teams, but I don’t think we’re playing poorly in the first half. I think we’re playing well, but we’ll just have to make more of out scores.”
What is certain is that Kildare are going into Saturday’s game with a very impressive record in the qualifiers under McGeeney – the win over Laois was his ninth successive victory in the qualifying rounds in what is his fourth season as manager, starting in 2008 with the one-point win over Cavan – and since then including victories over Limerick, Fermanagh, Wicklow, Antrim, Leitrim, Derry, Monaghan and Laois. Indeed, they’ve never lost a qualifying game under the Armagh man.
As if either Kildare or Meath needed any further incentive for victory, whoever wins will play the losers of Sunday’s Derry-Donegal Ulster final in the fourth round – to be played the following Saturday, which means the defeated Ulster finalists must cope with the dreaded six-day turnaround.
McGeeney's Record
Kildare in Qualifiers
2008: First round beat Cavan; Second round beat Limerick; Third round beat Fermanagh (lost All-Ireland quarter-final to Cork).
2009: Fourth round beat Wicklow; (lost All-Ireland quarter-final to Tyrone)
2010: First round drew with Antrim (won replay); second round beat Leitrim; third round beat Derry; fourth round beat Monaghan (beat Meath in All-Ireland quarter-final; lost All-Ireland semi-final to Down.
2011: Second round beat Laois.
Played 10, Won 9, Drew 1.
