Looking at previous games not really relevant insists O'Hora

As well as All-Ireland final day, August 13 will serve as the end to Diane O’Hora’s first full season in charge of the Kildare ladies. The Mayo legend was not new to the group this year however as she served as a member of the coaching team under Sean Finnegan, who departed to join Kevin McStay in Mayo.

The three-time All-Ireland winning player has led Kildare through a blistering 2023 campaign where they have lost just one game. After promotion to Division 2 and Leinster Championship success, O’Hora now leads her side into an All-Ireland Intermediate final against Clare. The team they faced when they last won the same Championship in 2016.

“There is not a mad amount you can change in the space of a couple of weeks but look, we all identified areas of improvement (after Wexford) and we are all just excited giving it our best shot,” O’Hora said.

“What I really enjoyed was that those (last three) performances were based on challenges the different oppositions posed towards us. We ended up learning so much from each of those challenges after coming out of them.”

Kildare’s promotion to Division 2 under O’Hora likely stands above their Leinster Championship success as returning to that level of football has been on the agenda for some years now for this team.

A feature of Kildare’s success has been their ability to be adaptable against various tactical set-ups, as more teams appear to transition towards employing a blanket defence. The only team to be successful were in truth quite fortunate to be and The Wee County’s win over Kildare would be followed by two convincing wins for The Lilywhites later in the year.

O’Hora discussed the various challenges her team have faced in trying to find the right balance across the season against different opposition.

She said, “You can go back to the Louth game where we lost in the league hitting 15 or so wides and then to the Leitrim game (in the Championship) where we sacrificed our defence for attack. Then we moved on to get what we felt was the full package against Tyrone in terms of what we wanted from defensively, transitioning and attack.

“Coming away from that then again, Wexford were really strong defensively and we really struggled to break that down. We had a look at it and we are trying to figure out ways around that because Clare could potentially do that in two weeks time.”

This year’s Intermediate All-Ireland finalists played out one of the games of the year in April with Kildare edging The Banner in extra-time.

A fixture that may have been less enthralling, for the neutral at least, was Kildare’s semi-final against Wexford. The Lilywhites came out on top 1-4 to 0-2 but the Kildare manager reckons her side are in for a different type of encounter in Croke Park.

She said, “Clare have a very different style of football (to Wexford) and between ourselves and them, we are very balanced and very equal, there is very little between us. That’s not me just saying that, all our results to date and even in years past have been very very close encounters.

Adding, “I hope we get the balance right for what we need to play the best football rather than looking at an opposition. As much as you might like to, you really have only two weeks and you have to focus on yourself.”

The winning score in the last meeting with Clare, the league final, would come from the boot of Róisín Byrne. The Sarsfields woman has been scoring for fun upon her return from a long-term knee injury and her manager has praised her contribution to Kildare’s success this year.

GREAT PERSONALITY

“She is a great personality to have around the group. There is no pressure on her, pressure is for tyres when it comes to Róisín, she’s the one that got the scores for us in that final against Clare. That was the biggest pressurised kick I have probably ever seen a player take. I am delighted in terms of how they are all playing in the forward unit and how she has played this year,” O’Hora said.

“She is really excited (for the final), Róisín adores football, she loves it. She is probably one of the most skilful players you will ever see, we are very very fortunate to have her and I have to say let’s look around at our forward unit.

“Neasa the last day, look at Lara Curran, the work rate that Ellen (Dowling) is putting in, Trina (Duggan), Claire Sullivan, those players are working so hard for us in those positions. And we are very fortunate to have players off the bench that can come in and add into it. Róisín is a super leader but it is based on how the unit forms together as well. She had some insane performances this year, got us some fantastic scores and over the line in so many games.”

The league final is a great jumping off point when discussing this game, especially given the nature of the drama of what was an instant classic, but the Kildare boss has stopped well short of reading too much into how this game will play out based on their last meeting in mid-April.

After being asked, is there much you can take from the league final game O’Hora said, “No. Absolutely not. You are looking back, both teams I’d imagine will have gained an awful lot of experience, have developed a lot and created options for themselves in terms of a plan A, B and C.

“Looking at anything in terms of previous games is not really relevant moving into this final. Clare shot the lights out against Antrim, they are going to be a force to be reckoned with, so we have a lot to do to make sure we can defend and transition the ball. It was a real struggle against Wexford but the only thing we can do is go back to what we are good at and try to be even better the next day.”

One interesting tactical aspect on the final day will be to see how Clare operate in this game under their manager and Kildare native Wayne Freeman.

Freeman knows plenty about this Kildare team and he, alongside members of his coaching staff, have worked with many members of the Kildare panel through county minor set-ups and Kildare club football.

The Kildare boss is under no illusions that the opposition dugout's knowledge of her squad will impact how Clare set up for the final.

“Absolutely, there is no question about it. He (Wayne) has got a huge insight into practically every player on this team and of course he is going to try and use that. But our players are ready for anything that comes their way.”