Cian O’Neill under no illusions about scale of Kildare task

Less than a month ago Cian O'Neill was preparing for an All-Ireland final as coach of champions Kerry. This week he is manager of Kildare and fulfilling a round of engagements with media and sponsors Brady's Family Ham, as he adjusts to life in charge of his own county.

In a career that has seen him work as coach with some of the highest-profile teams in Gaelic games, 2010 hurling champions Tipperary, perennial football contenders Mayo and more recently the 2014 football champions Kerry, this is his first appointment as manager.

He says he has been approached in the past about a number of vacancies but that the opportunity to manage his own county all but made up his mind that the time was now right to make the move.

His selectors have been named as Bryan Murphy, Pádraig Brennan and Brian Flanagan and on Wednesday he held his first press conference, fielding inevitable questions on what went wrong for Kerry in last month's defeat by Dublin.

County final

They are now in place in time for Sunday’s county final between Sarsfields and Athy and the new manager says that no players will be dropped before the first get-togethers of the new season. He also hopes to talk to Kildare players Seán Hurley and

Paddy Brophy

, who are signed up in the AFL and

Kevin Feely

, who is back home after a spell in English soccer.

O’Neill, from Newbridge and living in Cork where he is head of the Sport, Leisure and Childhood Studies department in CIT – he says that leaving Kerry may make social life easier in his adopted home – doesn’t have any ready answers but was surprised on reviewing the final.

“I felt that we were closer than I did at the time but also I’m very aware that Dublin had some clear-cut chances too, and you can’t escape that. But it wasn’t as bad as I thought, and it is normally the other way. That is just my perspective and obviously I am biased; there is no way of putting your finger on it. I haven’t spoken to many players but I think it was just a catalogue of different things that went against us on the day.

“Some of our turnovers, unforced errors that directly led to Dublin scores – all things that could have been eliminated. Some strange refereeing decisions I felt, that directly led to scores.”

He doesn’t feel that the toll that being champions appears to take on teams was detectable during the year.

“No, didn’t notice anything. A lot of those things are immeasurable because they are often mental things but there was no pattern or trend that I would have picked up on.

“We did a lot of sports scientific analysis through GPS and what not and the markers were actually on a positive trend. We tracked their mental and physical wellbeing beforehand and in the week before the All-Ireland, their metrics, ‘how I slept, how I feel, my diet’ – those type of things; they were all slightly higher than in the semi-final.”

Seven goals

He didn’t feel conflicted when Kerry dismembered Kildare in the All-Ireland quarter-final, sticking seven goals past them but acknowledges that he did think about it later.

“After the match when the adrenalin had come down and you’re reflecting back on it, it was sad really because I don’t think players of any level, let alone my own county, deserve that.”

On the one hand that championship exit illustrated the challenge facing O’Neill; on the other he will benefit from picking them up when underpriced on the football markets, smarting from whopping defeats against Kerry and Dublin and preparing for life in Division Three.

“There’s no doubt they do,” he says when asked do those heavy defeats affect a team.

“I think the most difficult thing, especially if it happens in the championship like it did against Dublin initially – I’m sure there was a lot of soul-searching in that Kildare dressing room but in fairness, they did come out and put in a huge performance against Cork.

No comeback

“But when it happens in the last match of the season, be it the qualifiers or any other knockout stage, there’s no comeback. There’s no next big hurdle to look forward to. It’s a long, lingering wait throughout the winter months.”

He is under no illusions about the scale of the challenge facing him and his management.

“I think the gap is quite significant, if I’m being honest. That’s not just with Kildare. Kerry, Dublin and Mayo will be very competitive again next year, I think those three teams in particular are somewhat further ahead. I would almost look at it as three tiers, some people might say four.

“You’d have those three, then you’d have the likes of Tyrone, Donegal, Cork who are probably that little bit slightly off it at the moment, but who have all challenged in recent years. It’s quite a drop then to the rest . . . and I’m aware of saying that as a Kildare manager but I’m realistic of the challenge that’s faced in front of me as well.”