Kildare boss Glenn Ryan isn’t fussed about where they play their All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final next weekend.
Their one-point win over Roscommon means that they are entitled to a home venue though as St Conleth’s Park in Newbridge is being redeveloped, the game will have to take place outside the county.
Kildare nominated UPMC Nowlan Park for their recent ‘home’ game against Dublin but may be tempted to return to Tullamore after seeing Roscommon off at O’Connor Park.
“The Towers. Round Towers, the pitch is in great nick over there!” replied Ryan with a smile, citing his home club’s ground in Kildare town, when asked of his preference.
“[Tullamore] is no different to Kilkenny. Two fantastic facilities, a credit to both counties. We’ll have a chat and see what way it goes.”
As for the game itself, which Kildare were not fancied to win, Ryan said: “Well, I probably saw it coming last January!
“Every night we’re training they train hard and they do the things you ask them to do, and our frustration has been not being able to get it out on the pitch.
“But there has been a huge resolve in them over the last 10 days in particular, so if it came from anywhere it came from their heart, and that’s all we can ask of anyone.”
As it turned out, Kildare would have qualified for the knockout stages had they lost by anything less than 24 points, though a win over a Division One side dispels any notion that they haven’t reached the knockout stages on merit.
“I don’t think anyone wanted to be going in with a feeling that we hadn’t earned it,” Ryan said.
“With a win and a draw under our belt, we can go in with our chest out and proud that you put at least one good performance behind you that warrants us being at this stage of the competition. That is what we did today.”
Meanwhile, Roscommon manager Davy Burke admitted that his team “didn’t get off the bus”.
He added: “It’s how we react now. Ourselves and Mayo were fighting it out for first, we’re both third. It’s a mad Championship, isn’t it a great Championship? It’s a great Championship but obviously it’s not good for us today.
“This team had a bad blip against Clare last year in the round of 12 and didn’t get a chance to recover so at least we’ve a chance to recover but it’s a six-day turnaround so it’s going to be tough but I suppose everyone’s in the same boat, that’s the only thing, so we’ll look to recover, yeah.”
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