Cian O’Neill, the new Kildare football manager, believes he has inherited a panel of players who currently rank in the third tier of Championship football.
Having developed an impressive coaching reputation following stints with Limerick, Mayo, Kerry and the 2010 All-Ireland winning Tipperary hurlers, O’Neill decided earlier this month to return home.
There were alternative options. Kerry, the beaten All-Ireland finalists, wanted to retain his services for a fourth season, and in addition, he claims to have rejected 15 inter-county positions over the last four years.
But Kildare was one offer he couldn’t refuse, even if he appreciates the considerable task he has on his hands to address the downward trajectory of the team’s fortunes, which began with the departure of Kieran McGeeney, the manager, two years ago.
While Jason Ryan did guide Kildare to this year’s All-Ireland quarter-finals, where ironically, they came up against O’Neill’s Kerry, that day ended in disaster and a 27-point defeat.
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“I think that gap is quite significant between Kildare and Kerry,” O’Neill said.
“The reality is that three teams — Kerry, Dublin and Mayo — are so far ahead of everyone else. I would almost look at the football Championship as three-tiered with Dublin, Mayo, Kerry in the top bracket, then Tyrone, Donegal, Cork, and then it is quite a drop to the rest. I’m realistic of the challenge in front of me.
“Yet having said that, I don’t think it needs to be a ten-year wait or détente before you bring a team from that third tier to the second. If you look at the great work Jim McGuinness did with Donegal, their rise was meteoric.
“And it is possible for Kildare to progress, providing you bring in the right culture and mindset. The players are in Kildare, it’s just about creating the right environment for them to flourish. That will be the biggest challenge.”
Kildare officials clearly believe O’Neill can create that environment and sounded him out for the job when McGeeney departed two years ago. Last month they came calling again and, this time, he could not say no.
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“In the last four years — I left Tipp in 2011 — there has probably been anywhere from ten to 15 inter-county jobs offered that I never even entertained because it just didn’t feel right for me,” O’Neill said. “However, going home to Kildare seems to be the perfect fit.
“If this hadn’t been an option, you can be sure I would still be down with the management team in Kerry; there’s no question about that. But I just felt going home now was probably the right time.”
O’Neill has yet to meet his Kildare players or formalise any sort of panel, although he made it clear that he will not be culling any players before assessing them. He also said that he will contact Sean Hurley and Paddy Brophy, both former county players, about returning from Australia where they have secured contracts with AFL teams.
“It would be remiss of me or anyone else in charge not to do that,” O’Neill said.
“Also, you’ve Kevin Feely [the former Bohemians and Charlton Athletic defender] who is just home from pro-football in the UK, so if Kevin is healthy and fit — he’s playing in the county final with Athy at the weekend — he’d certainly be a huge addition.”
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Speaking at a promotion organised by Brady Family Ham, who have agreed to sponsor Kildare GAA for another three years, O’Neill suggested that Kerry were not as far away from beating Dublin in the All-Ireland final last month as he initially believed.
“I felt, after reviewing it, that we were closer than I thought during the match. All the time being very aware that Dublin had some clear cut chances too; you can’t escape that,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill revealed that all the data collected and analysis conducted by the Kerry management team suggested the players were perfectly primed to beat Dublin.
“We tracked their mental and physical well being beforehand in the week before the All-Ireland; their life patterns, how I slept, how I feel, my diet, those type of things, they were all slightly higher than they’d been for the semi-final,” O’Neill revealed. “So there was no evidence there at all before the match.”