PREVIEW: Time that Kildare got the better of Wee County

Having seen Kildare book a place in this season's Leinster SFC semi-final at Cedral St Conleth's Park, Newbridge, last Saturday week; we returned to the stadium the following day to throw an eye over another quarter-final that saw Louth take on Laois, the winners, Louth, meeting Kildare this coming Sunday in Tullamore.

Same competition, same province, even in the same stadium but played under different rules?

Hard to believe?
Kildare v Westmeath had the 'hooter' in operation while the Louth v Laois game did not have this piece of equipment on the day.

Why?
Simple, but astonishing really, because the Saturday night game was televised live while the Sunday afternoon game was not.
So the 'hooter' is in use for live TV games but disappears when the cameras are not there.

The official line is that “not all county grounds are equipped to handle the clock and the hooter” yet it was in operation in

Newbridge on Saturday but not in operation some 18 hours later.
Strange or what?

And there is another aspect to this. Take for example when a player gets a black in a 'no-hooter' game; his ten minutes begins once he sees black and ends after ten minutes regardless whether there is a hold-up in play for any reason. However if a player gets a black card in a 'hooter' game as the clock is stopped for all stoppages the player misses out for ten minutes but only when the ball is in play, regardless how long that takes..

Same game, same competition but different rules.
It could only happen in the GAA.

Don't know, as of yet, if the 'hooter' will be 'hooting' in Glenisk O'Connor Park, Tullamore on Sunday or indeed in Laois Hire, O'Moore Park, Portlaoise the same day for the Dublin v Meath clash, that will all depend on whether either or both are on live telly.

Maybe there is only one 'hooter' available outside of Croker.
Who knows but it is crazy.

THE GAME
Kildare lifted their game considerably in the second half against Westmeath and while most point to the injury picked up by Westmeath midfielder Ray Connellan soon after the restart that aided the Kildare cause; no doubt it had a big bearing but in fairness The Lilies did come to grips with the situation; did get a grip around the middle with Kevin Feely especially, along with Callum Bolton, but they were not the only two to step up to the mark. Ben McCormack had an excellent second half as did Alex Beirne while both Tommy Gill and Niall Kelly, when introduced, left their mark on proceedings.

Manager Brian Flanagan did not shy away from the 'problem' Kildare had in most of the opening half, but they still managed to trail by just a single point at the break.

It will be interesting to see what, if any, different approach will be taken come Sunday as regards to our kick-outs.
We can certainly expect to see some variation and that's for sure.

Going short instead of ballooning the ball down the middle is one option but 'short' can be very troublesome unless delivered accurately, very accurately, and as we saw on one occasion when Westmeath went short a goal opportunity immediately presented itself for Kildare, just having scored their first; it wasn't taken but that is not the point; the point being that kick-outs have now become as important from a goalkeeping point of view as the custodian's ability to keep his area goal-free. Then again it is not all down to the kicker, there has to be a bit of movement out the field as well; something to aim at.

With Harry O'Neill out due to that very nasty and serious injury picked up in the first half (a very brave man) it will be interesting to see who comes in there.

There are, thankfully options.

Ryan Burke did well and is probably in prime position; a fit Ryan Houlihan would also be in the frame while Tommy Gill made an impression when coming in for Kevin Flynn; the Celbridge man has seen little game time this season but would still be ahead of the pack if fully fit.

Mark Dempsey got his first start against Westmeath and while his immediate opponent, Luke Loughlin, had a mighty game scoring 11 points, very doubtful if any other player would have performed any better. Dempsey did have some success, early on especially, but the class of Loughlin came through and that's for sure.

Midfield remains a concern, not just in the quarter-final but throughout the league but it is unlikely that Feely and Bolton won't team up again come Sunday.

Darragh Kirwan, by his standards, was quiet, we can expect more from him, a clean bill of health can see the Naas man make a bigger impression; Ben McCormack had an excellent second half, having worked very hard throughout the game; Alex Beirne hit 1-5, Ryan Sinkey two points (are they asking too much from this young Naas lad along with his U20 duties I wonder).

Brian McLoughlin hit an early beauty that gathered two points; Colm Dalton was somewhat quiet but like others, we should not and cannot forget, these are young players, some getting the taste of championship football for the first time; time is on their side; and patience is needed.

Kildare and Louth met in the Leinster semi-final last season and just three players that started that game started against Westmeath, that gives an indication of the transition this present team is going through.

As for Louth, yes, fully aware, their record against Kildare is more than decent in recent years at this stage. They have in Ger Brennan, a fine young manager who many believe will one day take charge of his native Dublin.

He took over from Mickey Harte when he (Harte) got the offer to go to Offaly but Brennan has certainly steadied the Louth ship and while I have to say they were not overly impressive against Laois, in fact they were fairly disappointing, but one feels they may be better than they showed that day.

No Sam Mulroy, hamstring problem, he did some exercises before the game but nothing too strenuous, a big player for the Wee County. Tommy Durnin, team captain, did not start against Laois, word is he attended a wedding on day before the game without informing the management, but came on after 33 minutes.

On the way back from injury, Craig Lennon also came on in second half; Ciaran Byrne who started instead of Durnin, had a fine game scoring 1-4 from play while Ryan Burns can be a major handful in the corner, so all in all it looks like Brennan is getting most of his strongest side back on the pitch.

We can expect a close game; Kildare were very wasteful when they met in the semi-final last season so hopefully a big improvement in that.

Laois will start favourites with the layers 8/13 with The Lilies at a tempting 13/8.
Slight underdogs, nice to see, lessen the pressure.

If a few things can be ironed out; and improvement around the middle is seen, one or two up front playing as we know they can, might just take a bit of that 13/8.

Time to get the better of the Wee County.

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