Glenn Ryan anxious to focus on the positives following third Kildare Tailteann Cup win

It was a win and we won't turn our nose up at a win any day so we are delighted to get the win and delighted we put ourselves in a position where we had to battle after looking relatively comfortable after going through a period when we didn't take out opportunities when they presented themselves; they (Leitrim) took theirs but it was a very good reaction from our players considering when you go back on the year we have had, still a lot of scars there and I suppose a lot of trepidation in these situations when we are on the back foot but I though we came out very well on top and many positives to be taken.

A very honest assessment of Kildare's performance against Leitrim on Saturday from Kildare manager Glenn Ryan who added “we were challenged today, we didn't expect anything different from that but I suppose a lot of the challenge that was presented, in some ways our own doing; our shooting was just over fifty per cent; we are creating the chances, over 32 shots and so just over fifty per cent on the return we are getting and that is probably our achilles heel.

Asked about the performance of Darragh Kirwan, he showed great leadership the manager said that “we did need someone to step forward and Darragh is at a stage now where he is as good as what's out there, we need him to show that leadership which he has shown in all the group games; a lot on his shoulders with some of the players that are out, up front, and we are looking for Darragh to be performing at his best which he is.” The manager quickly adding “he is of course getting great support from the players around him.”

Asked is there more to come from Kildare the manager said “God I hope so, we see flashes at times of what we are capable of, I thought tonight at times was going back similar to our league performances but the good think about it was we ended up winning by seven points when the game came back to two, I though we showed great resolve.”

Ryan was very anxious to be positive adding “we have had enough bad days over the year and certainly we don't want to be coming out of a victory with our heads down, we need to be looking at the positives, this competition is about winning and days whatever way we have to win them we'll win them.

“We have come through putting up good scores; a little frustrating tonight but finished positively and I think we should all look forward positively because we need positivity around this team, this is the competition we are in and if we came out with a performance like that in the Sam Maguire we would be jumping around the place.”

Asked if he would like the quarter-final to be played at Hawkfield he said “yes I would, we got criticism for holding the last game in Hawkfield but Hawkfield wasn't full the last day ... if possible we would love to be playing there; that pitch is in some nick and from a logistics perspective everything was fine the last day against Longford.”