"We were simply not clinical enough" - Kildare manager David Herity reacts to league final defeat

Very disappointing were the first two words uttered by Kildare hurling manager, David Herity, following his side's three point defeat at the hands of Offaly in Sunday's AFL Division 2A final at Portlaoise.

“I don't think we brought our 'A' game today for long periods; we started off strong, but we were not clinical enough in front of goal in that purple patch in the first half; we went in at half time three points up but the possession we had possibly should have been six at least.

“Just looking at the stats afterwards the teams were so similar, the amount of shots taken, the frees, we got 1-15 from play, they got 0-17, very little in it; I am happy with the likes of David Qualter coming off the bench, he brought a massive energy to it and brought us back into the game; I'm delighted when they went four or five points ahead we didn't allow that game to slip away; we got it back to the last puck of the game and that is what it came down to.”

Looking ahead and this Saturday's opening game in the Joe McDonagh Cup, against Carlow in Carlow the manager said “we don't have a lot of time, dust ourselves off but if we can get a win next week, it will get us back on the wagon as quickly as we possibly can.”

Asked about that six day turn round the manager said “look it is what it is, you can complain about it but if you complain about it now you are just simply giving out about it but we knew what the story was at the start of the season if we got to the league final and while I'm sure it will be reviewed at the end of the season but that will probably come from teams further up giving about it for them (authority) to take any notice but we just have to get on with it.

“We play Carlow now in six days time; we play Offaly in 13 days time and then we are playing Kerry again in 20 days time so we just have to get ourselves right, we are injury free, again massive positive news; it's sickening in the cold light of day just how close you can be to getting the lads to Division 1, it wasn't mentioned a massive amount but hopefully it will give the lads confidence.”

Commenting on the huge crowd, Herity said it was the biggest I have seen for a Kildare game, and we have to hope we get that crowd again next Saturday.”

Asked about the Offaly sweeping tactic that worked so well, the manager said he felt “our deliveries were not long enough, we were coming out, tried to deliver but we were not striking long enough to get that ball over the top, we were topping the ball, to be honest I FELT we made Adrian Cleary (Offaly sweeper) man of the match, we will have to look back on that in the coming days but they were very clinical when they were on top especially in the second half.”