I felt the impact from the bench was huge says Kildare manager

Very happy, any day you pick up two points in the League is a good day, they are all very hard earned and we are very happy with the victory.

The initial reaction of Kildare manager, Brian Flanagan, following Kildare's twelve point win over Laois at Cedral St Conleth's Park, Newbridge.

The manager added “it is coming to the vital stage in the League it is important, we are obviously keen to get promoted as are three or four other teams, so on nights like that is very important.”

The Johnstownbridge man said that what pleased him most was “probably the collective manner of the performance, everybody played for the team at all times and we got out of the blocks very quick, too really good options, started with great pace and after that 12-14 minute mark after chalking up eight scores we probably dropped the tempo slightly, that is probably to be expected, we took a breather for a while but we ramped it up again for the second half” adding “I felt the impact from the bench was huge, someone such as Brian McLoughlin who has been good for us throughout the league, doesn't get the start tonight but then comes back in and answers it just as you would want, all in all, a lot of pleasing aspects of the importance.”

With ten different scorers, an aspect that also pleased the boss, “possibly the new rules are allowing lads to get into the right positions but again very positive, especially for the lads coming in off the bench as they did tonight, such as Brian McLoughlin and indeed Niall Dolan.”

Asked if the scarcity of goals is a bit of a concern the manager replied instantly: “actually it is not, we had a couple of chances, maybe two or three, not overly clear cut; in the opening minute we could have got a goal; Ryan Sinkey then hit the post, a few others also but if you ask anyone in Donegal, they are top of Division 1 and they haven't scored a goal but I don't think anyone is too concerned about it.”

From Day One Brian Flanagan said he wanted to make St Conleth's Park a fortress and he emphasised that once again after Saturday's game.

“You want your home stadium and your home pitch to be a fortress and now with the new place you want that to be more than ever; it seems a long time from our first match against Fermanagh, a month in fact, and it will be another month before we are back again against Antrim, so the players relish days such as this and I felt the players brought that energy again to day from the week and from warm-up and they hit the ground running.”

The manager said they he wants to build the connection with the fans, the underage, great to see everyone coming out on to the pitch all very positive and hopefully we can build on that.”