Kildare advanced to the final round of All-Ireland qualifiers on Saturday with an upset win over last year’s finalists Mayo in Newbridge.
The match attracted significant attention in the build up for the GAA’s decision to originally schedule the game as part of a double header with Tyrone and Cavan at Croke Park, before insisting that the game would be played at headquarters, and then later relocating the match to Newbridge after Kildare’s rightful insistence that they should be awarded home advantage after they were the first team drawn in the GAA’s All-Ireland qualifier draw.
Kildare pipped Mayo down the stretch to claim a 0-21 to 0-19 victory to secure a place in the final round of qualifiers with just 12 teams remaining in this summer’s All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.
Scenes at the final whistle of Kildare v Mayo in St. Conleths Park in Newbridge #KildareGAA #BeThereAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/1YlqvoCb1Z
— Kildare GAA (@KildareGAA) July 1, 2018
Kildare manager Cian O’Neill said after the match that the win over Mayo made amends for a disappointing league campaign and an underwhelming Leinster provincial championship run.
“I’m just thrilled for the players today,” O’Neill told Sky Sports in his post-match interview.
“As manager you have to preside over things that go well and things that go poorly and we’re nearly men. We got promoted from Division 3 and lost a final.
“[We] got promoted from Division 2 and lost a final. We got into a last 12 and didn’t perform. This year we had a poor league so all that stuff is correct and true, you can’t hide away from that, but you do it for days like this.
“You keep coming back and you keep fighting and the players have done that. They’ve played the last three matches. I haven’t kicked a single ball.”
