Darragh Kirwan gives his take on Tailteann Cup as Kildare make unwanted debut in second tier competition
'I believe we only have ourselves to blame for being here and we have absolutely no right to look down on it.'
Darragh Kirwan says that Kildare have “no right” to turn their noses at the Tailteann Cup as they make their first appearance in the competition this weekend.
Although they flirted with it last year, there was no reprieve this time on the back of a wretched League campaign which saw them relegated from Division Two.
And though reaching a Leinster final would have seen them into the All-Ireland series, they suffered a four-point loss to Louth in the semi-final and so take their place in the second tier tournament, which was launched at Croke Park yesterday.
Kildare are top seeds in Group 1, which also includes Longford, Leitrim and Waterford.
Kirwan said: “At the start of the year you set out your target to try and play at the highest level we can, but I believe we only have ourselves to blame for being here and we have absolutely no right to look down on it, and we absolutely don’t.
“You’re not entitled to play in any competition, you have to go out and earn the right and we haven’t done that through our league performances and ultimately not getting to the Leinster final either, so we can have no complaints.
“We are where we are on the merits of our performances being under par, so we are viewing it as an opportunity now to just build momentum and keep playing football together over the next few weeks and see where it takes us.”
Given Kildare’s results, criticism hasn’t been in short supply, with manager Glenn Ryan coming under the spotlight in particular.
“Yeah, there’s been a lot of slack on players and management which has been hard to take and hard to ignore, but look, you just have to stick together which we have, management and players and keep putting the shoulder to the wheel on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and any days we train,” said Kirwan.
With St Conleth’s Park currently being redeveloped, their opener against Longford on Saturday will be staged at their training facility in Hawkfield, perhaps reflecting the lack of prestige around the fixture.
“I’m not sure the attendance will really bother us, as players anyway we are just going to be focussed on what will transpire on the pitch so we’ll pay no heed to it really,” said the Naas attacker.
Not being able to play at their home ground hasn’t made things any easier for them this year, Kirwan admitted.
“Traditionally it had been a bit of a fortress and being tough for opposition to come to. But again, it’s not an excuse, we’ve still been under par as players so these are only little one per centers and stuff that’s out of our control.
“What’s been in our control has been how we perform, and it hasn’t been where we want it to be, so no excuse there really.”
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