Glenn Ryan reacts to Kildare loss to Louth and future Tailteann Cup campaign
"We didn't get our names pulled out of a hat to be in this position" says the Kildare manager
No doubt the last place Kildare manager, Glenn Ryan, wanted to be after Sunday's defeat to Louth, was under the Cusack Stand chatting with the media. It can't be easy but in fairness, he did so, fairly, honestly even if inside he was no doubt feeling the pain.
“Extreme disappointment” was how he described his feelings, adding “none of us wanted to be in this position but we are, it is not by accident, we didn't get our names pulled out of a hat, we are in this situation because of results that have not been good enough; it is something we have to accept.”
Glenn, however did say that a lot of stuff they had worked on over the past few weeks “we performed out there, we created more scoring chances than what we have done all year; our conversion rate which has been an issue for us all year manifested itself again today; I think in the second half we won fifty per cent of their (Louth's) kick-outs which in the modern game isn't a stat you would normally see, so there was a lot of good stuff done out there but ultimately the poor out-weighed the good, not the performance I was expecting, I thought the way we had gone about the last two weeks they were primed for a good showing but we didn't get it.”
Confidence an issue?
“I suppose it has to be, you have to try and get over that; we did a lot things we worked on and did them very well but ultimately we just didn't put the ball over the bar enough/
“We had a third more shots that Louth, fewer scores, that is never going to be a good sign.”
When you have that confidence you make the right decision and when you are under the most pressure ... I don't think it was a case of lads shying away, I think they were trying to do the best thing.”
The manager added that Kildare won their kick-out four times in the first half but get anything from it.
Asked about the early goal chance that was over-hit the manager admitted that “probably sets the tone.”
The manager said that while it will be hard to regroup for the Tailteann Cup “but we will, these fellas will re-group, no doubt about that” adding he expects everyone that has come through up to now to come through in the Tailteann Cup as well.
“It will take a good bit of heart to get our heads down, all of us, but we will, we will give them next week off and then regroup and the sooner the better we get them back up on the horse again the better for everyone.”