Cian O'Neill claimed Kildare are playing with fear after their ultra-defensive performance against Wexford.

The Lilywhites suffered drubbings at the hands of Dublin and Kerry in last year's championship, but the decision to go defensive against Division 4 opposition in Croke Park last Saturday evening was still surprising.

"I don't think players are thinking back to things that have gone wrong in the past. I just think they're playing in fear when something happens," the Kildare manager is quoted in the Irish Daily Star.

"And the're playing in fear of the moment as opposed to thinking 'Jesus, this is what happened the last time we played'. When they played in fear last year, they shipped seven goals against Kerry. They didn't ship any goals today.

"Granted, the quality of football on show was poor. But that's certainly a positive. But the frees conceded in the second hald and the turnovers are two things that can drain you mentally, as much as football-wise. And that's what happened.

"We only conceded eight points, albeit we only scored nine. And we just need to look at the positives. Would we have learned anything if we had won today by 20 points? Probably not.

"But we didn't expect the below par performance that we gave."

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