'That could have been a Leinster title that we left behind us' - David Hyland on Kildare's 2025

David Hyland would be regarded as one of the more experienced players on the Kildare senior football panel at the minute, having made his debut in 2013 under manager Kieran McGeeney.

Kildare had got to the Leinster U21 final that season (under McGeeney) and following that the Athy man, who was just 19 at the time, was called into the senior squad.

Castlebar was the venue where Hyland made his senior debut and as he says himself “it was very fitting that I should debut in Castlebar, my mother is from Clare Island, off the coast of Mayo (on my granny's side) so it was fairly poignant I made my debut having spent a lot of my summers in Clare Island.”

David Hyland who has captained The Lilies at various stages during his career, missed out in 2024, a situation that certainly saw the team struggle but as he points out “while I did not go travelling, as planned, until June I was at all the boys league games, and at the championship game, in Croke Park against Louth, it was,” he added “tough to be on the sidelines not being able to give lads a dig-out, offer something but I wasn't part of the set-up, just watching on.”

Brian (Flanagan) made contact with me back in October (2024), I got myself on to a programme from the Strength & Conditioning Team and I trained very hard, to be honest, to make sure when I came back in mid-December I was up to all the other players who had been training for the new season, he told us.

“Brian is a real people's person and he overlays that with a real business acumen, he knows how to leverage resources to get the best out of people, he surrounds himself with really good, genuine people first and foremost and those people all have different skills that they bring together with a view to where we are and progressing today, and yes, it is going well.”

Looking back on the season David, emphases that the no. 1 goal was to get promotion out of Division 3.

“It wasn't necessarily to win Division 3 but we got the promotion which was the most important thing and that will give us a good foundation for next year.”

While the Leinster Championship campaign is water under the bridge at this stage, the Athy man still emphasised that that is a regret.

“There is no point in glossing over it, I think we were the better team on the day, ultimately that could have been a Leinster title that we left behind us.”

Asked if Kildare played very conservative football that day, and indeed other days throughout the season, and again against Fermanagh in the quarter-final, opportunities being created but shots, for some reason, not taken on, would it be a lack of confidence or just concentrating on possession football?

“I don't think it is a lack of confidence” said David, “we went into the Fermanagh game off the back of a win against Sligo and a win against Offaly, and a lot of our good scoring forwards playing well, I know there might be a bit of a theme of that stagnant football but you look across the patch you see some other games during that week, Cork and Dublin was nothing short of a cagey affair also, so really it is horses for courses; look back on the video of Fermanagh and they played no sweeper against Sligo but they planted one in there against us and we probably weren't expecting that but then that day (against Fermanagh) every time you wanted to cut a line or anything like that the feet would go from underneath you (due to the conditions) but look we will be looking to get back to that expansive football, it is what we are best at and we will certainly be looking to get back to that style of play, I think that is what we are best at and looking to get back to against Limerick.”

NEW RULES
On the new rules David Hyland was very unequivocal on them.
“To be honest, I really like them I think they do allow for expression of football, the main one I wouldn't agree with is having to give the ball back to your opponent, I wouldn't be in favour of that at all.

“I think most referees are adapting to the new rules, by the letter of the law you can't have a conversation with the referee but any normal, genuine referee allows that for a bit of clarification, in the main I think they are a success.”

On the 3x3, or indeed now 4x3, how does that operate during games for players?
“I think we are intelligent footballers, we don't have to be guiding one another, we just have to communicate with one another if you go over the line, but I think we are managing it very well, I don't think there are many teams that have as good a discipline in that regards as ourselves.”

Does it affect your game, conscious possibly you have to stay back even if your inclination is to go forward?
“Maybe at the start but now, I don't think so” says Hyland, adding “just part of the DNA really.”

Looking forward to Saturday and Limerick, Kildare will be going into that as favourites (again) you could say they (Limerick) were somewhat fortunate to defeat Wicklow who gave away a soft goal and had a penalty saved but they got through it, what would a Tailteann Cup mean to Kildare?

“As regards the Tailteann Cup I feel the management have really set the tone in that regard, once we got knocked out of Leinster we had two games against Leitrim and Tipperary and there was no mention of winning a Tailteann or anything like that because there was still a hangover from the Louth game, we probably were down in the doldrums a bit, a lot of regret throughout, it was just about getting out and about and enjoying your football but after those two games we sat down and said 'we have an eight week block to make sure we get four wins and win a Tailteann and what that means to us' but it means a lot to the group, the last few years Kildare have been knocked out of football in May, we are going to get an extra two months as a group together and that has to stand to us in the long run.

“But look it is silverware, I have never won a trophy with Kildare and I am playing since 2013, so that is certainly something not to be sniffed at, there is a lot to be gained from it, we will be going out to win it, we made no qualms about that over the last number of weeks and that is what we ultimately want to do and achieve.”

“If Kildare can go on and defeat Limerick, would playing in the Tailteann Cup be one of the best things to happen for this group of players?

“If you said to me 'would you like to be in a Leinster final or a Tailteann Cup final' it is the Leinster final all day long, but look at the players Flanno has blooded over the past number of weeks, brilliant.”
A lot of good young lads there?

“Definitely” comes the instant replay, “great young lads, a lot of real good quality young lads and they are real genuine lads as well, you can see that and they are not just good footballers, but they are lads that will gel as a group, lovely lads, lads you could meet any night for a pint.”

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