Kildare supporters have been left reeling from the news that experienced defender Ollie Lyons has been released from the squad.

The 30-year-old was the county's most experienced defender and was regularly given the task of man marking the oppositions' dangerman.

Kildare manager Cian O'Neill has opted for youth over experience as he announced his squad for the coming year.

Shane McNamara, Shay Ryan and Con Kavanagh have stepped away from the squad, but it is the exclusion of Lyons that has raised many eyebrows in the county.

The Celbridge clubman played in this year's county final and was believed to be an integral part of the Kildare squad, but O'Neill revealed to the Leinster Leader that he had spoken to Lyons and this is the decision they came to.

"We have a generation of young players coming through, a lot of guys we want to have a look at; we needed to freshen things up especially defensively; from 1 to 9 out we do need to start developing more," said O'Neill.

"Ollie Lyons owes Kildare nothing, for many years he has been our go to guy marking the key attacker on the opposition team; we had a good chat last week and the way I would call Ollie's omission is that we came to a mutual decision."

Tweet

Most Read Stories