by Daragh Ó Conchúir

Croke Park was never going to be a heaving cauldron of noise and fervour on Sunday, certainly not when Kildare and Westmeath ran out from under the Cusack Stand for the first of the two Leinster semi-finals.

The dramatic events in Lille on Wednesday night and the Republic of Ireland's encounter with France ensures an even duller atmosphere, the commendable rescheduling of throw-in times by Leinster Council to avoid a direct clash notwithstanding.

There is a growing feeling throughout the GAA community that major games are losing a sense of occasion by being played at headquarters when the majority of seats are empty.

Kildare manager Cian O'Neill is among those who would prefer alternative venues being utilised until hitting a stage where a crowd can be guaranteed, believing that the absence of crackle can have a negative impact on proceedings on the pitch, while clearly impacting on the enjoyment for the supporter.

"I'd prefer a provincial ground for atmosphere" says O'Neill. "It's great to say you can never play in Croke Park enough and I always would have said that but I can't remember walking out into Croke Park and there being 5,000 people there (before)… and that was the case for the last two matches, the league final as well.

"I think there needs to be a little more perspective there and in many ways, to have 15000 in a 20000 seater stadium would give a phenomenal atmosphere, like you see in the qualifiers.

"Some of the qualifier games are actually the best games of the year because of that so I think it could be looked at when the fixtures are drawn up.

"It was eerie (against Wexford). I don't it helped the match. It was a bad match because neither team played to their potential but I think being so eerie didn't help it either."

Kildare fell over the line in that quarter-final against Wexford and have had five weeks to work on their difficulties since.

While much was made of their adoption of a much more defensive system than that deployed during their league campaign, it was what they did with the ball that was so poor, given that they only conceded eight points but scraped home by just one.

"Our attacking play was quite poor that day; our effectiveness and transition from defence to attack, I think it was quite clear. We knew it, the players knew, God knows the fans knew it.

"Obviously we didn't set out to perform that way. It was a big match for us, new squad, new management, little bit of nerves. A lot of nerves set in the second half out there.

"We had a good chat about it on the Monday. We released them off to their clubs for the week and… we've had a good three weeks since then. We are in a good space."

And he revealed that the change in tactics was not a reaction to anything that happened during the league, but a pre-planned move that had been discussed with the players.

"It was always part of a plan in terms of not playing the same in championship as in league. The players knew that, they actually talked quite freely about it. I wanted to get as much minutes as I could into the players during the league and having such a rigid system, it would have been quite difficult to sustain."

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