Kildare GAA: One County, One Vision, One Pathway

It certainly came like a shot out of the blue at a recent Kildare GAA monthly gathering of club representatives at Cedral St Conleth's Park.
Here we have, Bryan Murphy, a man who has been involved in Kildare GAA both as a player, manager, coach, selector (with Mick O'Dwyer) and advisor, who only nine months ago ran an impressive campaign to become chairman of Kildare Co. Board only to come up short, a mere handful of votes, losing out to Mick Mullen who proudly sits today as chairman of the board.
The Cork native's campaign included Colm Nolan, who was seeking the role of vice-chair, but once Bryan Murphy lost out, not surprisingly, Colm Nolan withdrew as the pair were working on a dual-ticket effort.
Then last week Chairman Mullen proposed Bryan Murphy to lead, effectively chair, a Kildare Football Development Committee, along with joining the Executive of the Co. Board, with a mandate to look at all things football within the county.
In many respects it is a bit like a re-run, for those who remember back in 2007, under the then chairmanship of Syl Merrins, when Bryan Murphy along with Noel Mooney, was asked to take a deep look into the Development Squads with a view to strengthening the link between each group, and, not surprisngly, that they did with vigour, with intent and with passion.
In many respects what Mick Mullen is now asking Bryan Murphy to do is to go back and re-visit that plan but this time with a greater spread to encompass all things Kildare football, both at club level and county level, the main emphasis however, would seem to be on the club scene.
Having talked to Byrne during his campaign for the Chair, we met up again last week to have a chat on this new role for the UK Sales Director at Dawn Foods in Naas.
Not surprisingly, his love, passion and enthusiasm for all things Kildare football came through, once again.
Bryan confirmed that when he was looking to become chairman of the board, his opponent, Mick Mullen, posed the question at the time, 'if I got it would you be willing to help me' and I said I would in any way I could.
“All I'm trying to do in this role is to look at all the different areas in Kildare and work with all the different stakeholders across the county, from club, to schools, to colleges, to the development squads and see what we can do; can we it better and can we raise the boat from the bottom up and the top down, can we all work together to fulfil the dream, the aspirations for everyone in Kildare to try and achieve.
“Basically working with all the stakeholders and try to learn from them, listen to them, and see what we need to do, and how do we do it together, because when you look at the eco system that makes up Kildare football , we have had great managers, great players, great county board people, we have very good facilities in Conleth's and Hawkfield, a testament to the great work that has gone there over the last couple of years, something to be very proud of, but ultimately it is what happens at senior level.”
All I can do, insists Murphy “is help people, talk to people to see how we unlock the potential that is ultimately there.
“This is not going to work just for one person, it is about all the stakeholders in Kildare football and trying to work with them but it is about a vision and a pathway that will deliver.”
Despite his many years in Lilywhite land Bryan Murphy, still retains his Corkonian dulcet tones as he emphasises over and over again the need to agree on a vision for what we want out of Kildare football and “once you have a vision you need to find your purpose and your direction; build the culture around that.
“I am a great believer that your values and your beliefs drive your behaviour and your behaviour drives your performance and if your performance is good enough then we should be capable of achieving consistent success.”
We need people that can inspire the next generation that want to play for Kildare; if you ignite the passion of people, can we dare to dream that we could be successful he asks, adding that it is close to 100 years since Kildare won an All-Ireland, under captain Bill Gannon; the first man to pick up the Sam Maguire and asks: “ is it possible that we could dare to dream that we could do that if we put everything together.
“We are in a great position at the moment, Brian (Flanagan) and his team achieved all their goals in 2025, now we have to build on that.”
We mention Development Squads.
What are Development Squads he asks, and pauses.
“They are about developing young people, our players, in all the different facets that go to make up a modern day inter-county footballer or hurler or camogie player or ladies footballer, some make it, some don't but they would all be leaving the field as better people having been involved with Kildare it is all about development” he insists.
“For me it has always about bringing enough young people through the system, giving them the tools, the ambition to be successful and igniting that ambition.
“When I first got involved with Kildare I use to say everything starts with a dream.
“If you are in Cork, Kerry, Kilkenny, Dublin or any of the top counties, it is very easy for young lads and girls to get attached to the senior team, we have got to work really hard in Kildare to ignite that passion to ensure our senior teams are playing consistently at the top level, that is how the young people become attached to them.
“One county, one vision, one pathway to ultimately what we want to achieve.”
Bryan makes a very valid point when he talks about All-Ireland finals saying that if young lads and young girls are not going to All-Ireland finals, semi-finals, Leinster finals, to see their own county, it is very hard for them to realise exactly what it means to be standing in a crowd in Croke Park, hearing Amhrán na bhFiann, seeing your team march around the pitch, it is all so special.”
Acknowledging that there is great excitement in Kildare following a successful 2025 season , the thing now, he insists, is to build on that.
“Davy Burke coming into Kildare, a very brave move by Brian” (Flanagan) he insists, “but we have to, at all levels, be prepared to listen, be prepared to learn, not be afraid to change once that im-
proves matters, that is what it is all about, talking, learning and taking everyone's viewpoint on board.
“One county, one vision, one pathway to ultimately what we want to achieve.”