With Carlow having beaten Kildare 2-14 to 1-10 over the weekend to secure a place in the semi-finals of the Leinster Football Championship, Kildare boss Cian O'Neill has come under some criticism for what was seen a massive upset defeat for the Lilywhites.
Joining OTB this evening to discuss all things football was former Kerry star Colm Cooper, who has previously worked with O'Neill at inter-county level.
Tomas O'Se recently referenced O'Neill's attention to detail during his time working with the Kerry footballers in his article in the Independent, in which he claimed O'Neill could spend six or seven explaining things that he felt could have been clarified in ten seconds. However, Cooper put this down to O'Neill's modern approach to the game and his background in sports science, though admitted surprise at the county's form this year because of their performance in the Leinster final last year.
"I suppose Tomas is a traditionalist, an old-style football player, that's the way he played the game and that's the way he is, but to be fair to Cian his background is in sports science and he works in that field so I think all those type of people give these long winded explanations. That's the way their role is, their model, that's in their make-up".
"Just from my dealings with Cian, he's an excellent physical trainer, he can really get a team into incredible condition. He'd like to do a lot of the skills based stuff himself, he takes a bit of pride in that, so I don't know how things have got so bad in Kildare because I went to watch them in the Leinster final last year and I said these are on the up. Dublin won by seven or eight points maybe, maybe more in the end, but Kildare were competitive for large periods and I went away thinking 'OK, these guys are coming'.
While some may have had reservations or doubts about O'Neill transitioning from part of a backroom team to being the manager, Cooper referenced O'Neill's experience in the years leading up to his appointment as Kildare boss as the reason why he wasn't one of them, though admitted that things look very bleak for the side at the moment.
"Cian is a very confident type, and he'd a huge amount of experience built up. He'd worked with the Tipperary hurlers, he'd worked with the Mayo footballers, he'd worked obviously with Kerry. That's huge experience to have, and going into his native Kildare there was never going to be the question of would he put in the time and effort, but the lack of progression has been the biggest thing".
"To go nearly 12 months without a win, albeit Division One is very competitive, but that's where you want to be if you want to be a Super 8 team, you need to perform in Division One. They haven't done that, and there seems to be a lack of confidence, maybe a lack of direction where they're going. Do Cian and the rest of the management take the flack for that? They've to take a share of it, but the players aren't completely innocent here as well. they're the guys who put on the boots and go out and if I was a Kildare fan I'd be really disappointed and I'd be wondering about where we are going at all".
Cooper joined Off The Ball as part of the promotional campaign for AIB, with the bank announcing a five-year extension to their 27-year long association with the GAA which will see their partnership continue until 2023.
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