'The players really stood up' - Pat Sullivan full of praise for Kildare after vital league win

“I said last week that we played very well then. Our performance was really good but we just didn’t execute what we were creating. In the first 12 minutes here (against Meath), we owned the game but we were probably panicking a small bit on the ball and shots we were taking probably weren’t on. But the players really stood up, showed leadership and we made sure that we weren't going to leave this one behind us,” the words of Kildare manager Pat Sullivan after his side picked up a crucial Lidl Ladies National Football League Division 1 win against Meath.

There was no score in this game for 13 minutes while Kildare commanded proceedings. Six missed chances but four brilliant turnovers made it hard to evaluate how good, bad or indifferent things were going for the home side. Eventually, The Royals got the game’s first score and The Lilies sprung into action and got the game’s first goal moments later.

Sullivan added, “We had to really work today and I think today’s work-rate showed what they have put in over the last four or five months and where they are now. The bigger picture is that this game is probably just step one, we are probably going to play these teams in eight weeks time in the Championship and that’s what we need to be ready for. They are and we are preparing for it. We are probably one step forward from where we were a couple of weeks ago and we are looking forward to that challenge in three weeks time against Waterford. They are flying at the moment and that is where we want to get to.”

READ NEXT: Electric Kildare put four goals past Meath to grab crucial league win

Scoring in this fixture did eventually pick up, and did so at pace, after a slow opening few minutes, but Kildare’s defensive rigidity and exceptional turnover rate was maintained throughout. The Kildare defensive unit will be more than pleased with their output in this clash and goalkeeper Corla Nallen can consider herself unlucky to be denied a clean sheet with Meath standout Rachel Casserly grabbing a goal just a minute from the end of normal time.

“We actually didn’t even train Wednesday night. We were here for a meeting and it was a really good session in terms of discussing where we were and being honest with each other. Coming here today I was thinking ‘this is it’ because we were very honest and I think the group knew there was something special here but we had to make it happen on the field,” Sullivan said.