Cian O'Neill concedes that inconsistency has been a huge problem for Kildare since they won their last Leinster SFC title in 2000.
Speaking to the Irish Daily Star ahead of this weekend's Leinster SFC opener against Wicklow, the Lilywhites boss admitted: "I think the biggest blight on Kildare over the last, I suppose you could go back 19 years to 2000 really, has been the inconsistency of performances.
"In the late noughties there when there was serial (All-Ireland) quarter-final appearances. There were defeats to Wicklow and Louth in the first round of Leinster and they bounced back to have great backdoor series.
"In Jason Ryan's time, they beat Cork in Thurles but the next week they are beaten by seven goals by Kerry. In my own time we put in a decent performance against Dublin and two weeks later underperform in a last-12 match. It's that inconsistency that has been a killer.
"And last year was probably the best example to lose the way we did early on and then bounce back. Is it psychological? There's obviously a part of that no question. Is there a belief issue? That's something we are constantly trying to work on.
"Belief in its most pure form can only really be developed by consistent success and performance and if that isn't there then that has an impact on belief. I never think it's just one thing, it's a combination of things. The psychology of it, the belief aspect is a huge part."
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