Andrew McLoughlin has described criticism of the Kildare attack as "farcical".

Kildare's forwards were criticised on The Sunday Game for not being ruthless enough in the Leinster SFC quarter-final win over Offaly, despite racking up 0-19.

"I find it a bit farcical. I don't know what games they're watching," long-serving corner back McLoughlin is quoted as saying in The Irish Examiner.

"I can nearly say that every player, including those that don't start, they're the most natural, hard-working of forwards. Lads can take frees off the ground and out of their hands, with both feet, lads are willing to work hard, to make runs for other players. I don't know where it comes from, genuinely I don't.

"We would have been disappointed that we didn't take our opportunities in front of goal the last day but it's a lot worse if you're not creating them. We created them which is the difficult part, the last part is to finish them off. But I know how good these forwards are.

"Sometimes the lads you're marking in training can really give you a 'scutching' and you really have to be on your game."

Looking to Sunday's Leinster SFC semi-final against Meath, McLoughlin is expecting a tough game despite the dominance Kildare have enjoyed in this fixture since 2007.

"When you're playing in Leinster and in the same division, you play each other a lot. And there's very little between the teams, so they're always competitive. You play each other so often, being favourite becomes irrelevant so that means nothing to us," he added. Tweet

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