Johnny Doyle says it's high time Kildare threw down the gauntlet to Dublin in Leinster.

The Lilywhites, along with everyone else in Leinster, have become mere cannon fodder for the all-conquering Dubs in recent years and Doyle agrees their dominance isn't good for football in the province.

"Eleven of the last 12 Leinster titles doesn't make for good reading for the rest of us," the Kildare great said in an interview with gaa.ie

"We can get fixated on Dublin this and Dublin that, but I think there will come a time and you'd be hoping from a Kildare point of view that you have enough character to say, 'We need to stop this and let's start looking at ourselves', because it does come down to the individual players.

"That's what you're striving to do, to get that crop of players that have tasted success and I suppose that want to bring it to the next level themselves and hopefully over the next couple of years they'll see that, but it is a big challenge in Kildare, there's no doubt about it."

Doyle, who works as a GAA coach in Kildare, says the challenge for the Lilywhites is to turn their underage promise into senior success.

"We have been relatively competitive all the way up at underage, but I suppose we all lock onto minor as the first national stage you come to," he added.

"At U21 we are there or thereabouts every year within Leinster, we've yet to go to the next level. Our minors were heavily beaten by Kerry in an All-Ireland semi-final this year, which was disappointing.

"So we've another tier to go, but I think that's the big challenge, I even know from my own playing days, the gap from inter-county to even playing with a very successful club. Lads who are really good players at club level just can't make the step up for whatever number of reasons. I think that's the challenge now, to bring them on."

Tweet

Most Read Stories