Kildare ladies captain previews Sunday's huge league clash with Longford
Kildare ladies captain Grace Clifford wants her side to continue their momentum this weekend in Longford. The Lilywhites are coming off the back of their incredible opening day display against last year’s intermediate All-Ireland finalists Wexford.
“We saw Wexford as a big challenge, just down from Division 2 and we know they will want to get promoted. It's a hard division to get out of because the teams are always evenly matched and the short format,” Clifford said.
“We were thinking we need to get out of the blocks quickly and put down a marker. We wanted to set the tone and although we had put in all this work and had done so much, you still are not sure how it’ll come together on match day.”
It came together in dominant fashion as Kildare beat the hosts Wexford 3-11 to 0-8. But it's onto the next in Division in the Lidl NFL Division 3B league, the ladies head to Emmet Park to face Longford on Sunday.
“You don't want to be the finished article in February. There was lots to learn and we are all ready to go for the Longford match,” Clifford said.
“We are feeling good and the games against Longford are always tight. We edged it by a point last year and we are gunning for Sunday and all looking forward to it.”
The focus is on the weekend but there is no doubting that this Kildare side has ambitions of a big season under new manager Sean Finnegan. The man who last year led Westmeath ladies to an intermediate All-Ireland win.
“I want what any player wants, which is to win games and hopefully at the end of it get promoted.We’re not training to just be there, it's a huge commitment and becomes more and more each year. We were so close last year to league promotion, intermediate All-Ireland semi finalists so I always say we would like to go that step ahead,” Clifford said.
You have to have that desire and lofty goals because that is what motivates you. The truth is that like any set of players, we want to win it all but right now it's about Longford.”