By Seán O’Regan

Kildare manager Cian O’Neill will lead his side into their first Leinster final in eight years, and he admits that the Lilies face a daunting challenge.

Jim Gavin’s men have steamrolled and on a number of occasions, embarrassed many of the counties that have come before them on their rise to provincial and national dominance, Kildare being one of a handful of examples.

On the back of seven in-a-row chasing Dublin’s demolition of Westmeath, O’Neill stated that “anyone who ever doubted them (Dublin) was incredibly naïve or even stupid. This is one of the best teams in the modern era and they’ve obviously got a couple of more weeks of training under their belts, a couple of more players back in. When they got going they were absolutely phenomenal.”

In their last two Leinster Championship meetings, the boys in blue have found the net nine times against Kildare, and after their exhibition of football against Westmeath in their semi-final meeting, many expect O’Neill’s men to shut up shop to limit Dublin.

However, now in his second year at the helm in Kildare, O’Neill believes it’s all about getting the crucial balance between attack and defence.

“Will we be more defensive minded? Of course we will. Will we need to put in 20 or 30 per cent more intensity? Of course we will. That won’t change, of course you will. You’re playing the All-Ireland champions, two time champions, but we’ll still play attacking football.”

“I suppose the real challenge will be to get the balance right between the two.”

After witnessing the 4-29 to 0-10 hammering Dublin bestowed upon Tom Cribbin’s men, O’Neill feels that the backs need protection, but that his team will stay true to the style that has secured two Allianz Football League promotions.

“You certainly can’t leave any of your defenders or your defensive line exposed against a team like Dublin so we’re obviously going to work really hard on that. But we’re still going to play the type of football that has made some progress for us and for the county this year.”

When pushed on the question whether or not the Dubs’ performance changed anything for O’Neill and his backroom team of Enda Murphy and Ronan Sweeney, the Moorefield club man replied:

“If anything, it just reaffirmed what an incredible team they are and what great champions they have been. Listen, they’ve got a massive panel, one steps out and three step in in terms of competition. They have a really strong management team and they have everything going for them.”

Interestingly, competition for places in also very high in the Kildare camp despite O’Neill referring solely to the options that Jim Gavin has at his disposal. In their semi-final defeat of Meath in Tullamore, substitutes such as Peter Kelly, Chris Healy, Eamon Callaghan, Emmet Bolton, Fionn Dowling, and Neil Flynn.

O’Neill does maintain however that, “I think we’re very lucky with the mix and the quality of the group we have at the moment. They’re a phenomenal bunch of players to work with.”