"We left ourselves with too much to do, as simply as that" Kildare manager David Herity after his side's loss to Meath

“Definitely disappointed. We left ourselves with a lot to do from about the last 25 minutes. We let them open up a nine point gap and then we tried to claw our way back into a game we knew  we probably needed two goals to win and we just didn't find them today unfortunately.”

The words of Kildare hurling manager, David Herity following his side's loss to Meath on Sunday in the opening game in the AHL Division 2A.

“The quickness of the scores that came late in the first half went from four to five, six, seven very quickly. We needed to slow the game down potentially just try  and get our bearings again. It's the first game for a lot of lads out there today and their debuts. The ball wasn't sticking in the way we'd like it to stick but that's what  we're going to  have to learn from and we've seven days now to try and get it right before we play Kerry."

Depleted Kildare side fall short of huge comeback against Meath

Kildare were trailing by nine points just after half-time and almost mounted an enormous comeback, getting within two points, but fell short. 

The former Kilkenny All-Ireland winner added  “you'd be immensely proud of the lads as well. In the second half they could have stayed at eight or nine points but we got it back to within two. We had our chances there near the end, we  were just unlucky with a few chances, on a different day we might have got in for a goal just wasn't to be today but again, it's a massive learning curve for ourselves, for everyone, management-wise and players, to try and get ready for next weekend is key. We don't have too much time to feel sorry for ourselves here but from talking to the Naas lads two weeks ago, there was great confidence there and great energy coming from them that they're raring to get back into it and that winning habit. A lot of teams have done it before where they've won club All-Irelands and dominated the county as well. So these guys are looking forward to it. They are ambitious lads, they want to keep winning as well. So we look forward to having them back next weekend.”