Ciaran Whelan fears Kildare could be in for a long afternoon on Sunday.

The Lilywhites will enter Sunday's Leinster SFC semi-final against Dublin as rank outsiders, despite racking up 3-16 in an impressive quarter-final replay win over Laois a couple of weeks ago. 

"Croke Park is a lonely, lonely place when the Dubs get a run on a team. Their second biggest challenge is they have to keep the game tight in the first 20 minutes," the former Dublin midfielder is quoted in the Irish Daily Star.

"It's difficult. The average defeat for Kildare has been 13 points. They've lost a lot of firepower up front. But, listen, you've got to give them credit.

"Everyone wrote them off after the league and they played the first 15 minutes against Laois like a team that was lacking self-belief and confidence.

"They will have taken a hell of a lot from the last few weeks, but going into Croke Park is a different, different challenge altogether. It's a stadium that can mess with your head. It's great when it's going good, but it can be bad."

Whelan's advice to Kildare manager Jason Ryan is to "keep the game tight for at least the first 15 minutes. He's got to break the game down into periods. He's got to build on their belief within the game rather than before it."

Tweet

Most Read Stories