As Kildare marched towards a 13-points victory over Laois last Saturday evening, it was announced that a crowd of 6,950 had spilled through the swanky new turnstiles at St Conleth’s Park to watch the Division 3 encounter.
This, then, is Kildare on the move again.
Last May, the Lilywhites had played a Tailteann Cup match against Longford at their Centre of Excellence – the Hawkfield venue was capped to a maximum capacity of 1,500. And officials at the gates weren’t exactly turning folk away that evening.
Six years after ‘Newbridge or Nowhere’, last summer Kildare found themselves pitching their tent at the training facility due to a collision of circumstances – the rebuilding of St Conleth’s Park coinciding with their senior football team falling apart.
At Croke Park the following afternoon, Dublin played Louth in the Leinster SFC final. The championship – the actual championship – was going on around Kildare, without Kildare. They beat Longford, but the entire affair was all a bit disheartening.
Laois eventually put Kildare out of their Tailteann Cup purgatory a few weeks later. The tent was swiftly packed up, the season never to be spoken about again.
Only five of that Kildare team started last Saturday’s win over Laois – their fourth successive victory of 2025.
Kildare and Wexford are currently the only teams in the country with a 100 per cent record in this year’s league.
“There is a good buzz around the place and you would notice it when you talk to people about football,” says former Kildare captain Eamonn Callaghan.
“Obviously there is a new management team with Brian (Flanagan) coming in, you have the new county ground, the new rules, and there are a lot of new players getting a chance so there is a freshness.”
Flanagan’s ascent to the big gig has been swift, though it too came to pass somewhat as a consequence of circumstances.
A mainstay during Kieran McGeeney’s reign, Flanagan played with Kildare from 2007-13, but a serious knee injury forced him to announce his retirement in 2014 at just 29.
He had undergone several operations, including a complete posterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, but ultimately Flanagan was unable to return.
He quickly gravitated towards coaching. He was Kildare junior manager, coached with his club Johnstownbridge and also had a spell in charge of DIT’s Sigerson team. In 2016 Cian O’Neill included Flanagan as part of his Kildare senior football backroom team.
Flanagan subsequently had a brief spell as part of Jack Cooney’s management set-up in Westmeath before being appointed as Kildare’s under-20 manager in September 2020.
From there the stars aligned. In 2022 Flanagan guided the Lilywhites to a Leinster title and also an All-Ireland final appearance, losing to Tyrone. But the following season Kildare went all the way, beating Sligo in the 2023 All-Ireland under-20 decider. Two months later, he stepped down as manager.
He later took charge of a Kildare under-23 development squad – a feeder team for the seniors – and was also part the Summerhill management team last season when they won the Meath SFC.
But as Kildare stumbled from one defeat to another throughout 2024, a change of management seemed inevitable. Flanagan and Davy Burke were the standout names bandied about as potential successors.
In September, Flanagan was confirmed as Kildare’s man and was handed a four-year term. Clearly this is to be a long-term project, not a quick-fix, sticky plaster job. He assembled a strong backroom team that includes Aidan O’Rourke, Damien Hendy and Daryl Flynn.
Callaghan was Flanagan’s last captain with Kildare.
“Brian is a really good lad. He was great craic around the place, a great man to have in a dressingroom. He got on well with everybody, but then on the pitch there was no messing, he was very disciplined and committed in his approach to football, a really shrewd operator,” recalls the Naas clubman.
“He was a great team-mate to have because he would do anything for you on the pitch. He kind of ticks a lot of boxes in that respect, he’s a very good people-person.”
It has been noticeable after matches how the Kildare players and management have stayed on the pitch with fans, signing autographs and posing for photos, as if part of the project is to reconnect the team with its people.
“Even after the challenge game against Galway in January, when it was freezing cold, they stayed out,” recalls Ger McNally, Kfm commentator.
“In fairness to the previous management team, the unavailability of St Conleth’s Park last year had a big impact, and that is often overlooked.
“There were no games in Newbridge, the team were losing matches, morale was low – they were all contributing factors to what was a disappointing season.”
That it was. Kildare lost all their league games in 2024 and were the lowest scoring side of all 16 in the top two divisions, managing just 82 points from seven matches to average 11.7 points per game.
This season (albeit with the added benefit of the new two-point scores) Kildare have already scored 100 points in four games, averaging 25 points per outing. And Kildare’s scoring difference of 56+ is by far the best in the country. Wexford are next up on 31+.
Kildare aren’t reliant on just one player for scores, either. There are two Lilywhites among the top six scorers in the division – Darragh Kirwan and Alex Beirne.
From the moment Kildare suffered a 14-point loss to Armagh last February, there was a sense the spark had gone and the 2024 season was destined to play out as a lacklustre long goodbye.
During Glenn Ryan’s three seasons at the helm (one in Division 1 and two in Division 2) Kildare won five league matches, drew one and lost 15.
Should they beat Clare this Sunday (throw-in 2pm), Kildare will have won as many league games over the past five weeks as they managed in the previous three years. Context is important though, and while Division 3 is not where Kildare football sees itself, life is harder up the ladder.
“In some ways maybe it’s a blessing in disguise for a new manager and new players to be in Division 3, it’s a more forgiving breathing ground,” adds McNally.
“Going back to 2016, in Cian O’Neill’s first year, Kildare were in Division 3 then as well and were able to create some momentum.”
O’Neill guided Kildare to promotion that spring and they harnessed that progress to achieve back-to-back promotions by finishing second in Division 2 the following season.
Callaghan remembers those promotion seasons and the important lessons they provided.
“A challenge for Kildare later in the season will be when they come up against Division 1 and 2 teams, because that is another step up that will require further improvement.”
Ultimately, in terms of league football, a return to Division 1 is the goal and this time unaccompanied by perennial yo-yoing.
“I hope Kildare fans aren’t expecting miracles from Brian and the lads this year,” adds Callaghan.
“What I think is more important than just getting to Division 1 over the next few years is to be consistently competitive when you are there.
“You don’t want to be constantly moving up and down the divisions, that’s no good for anybody. I would hope in four or five years we are in Division 1 and holding our own, being very competitive.”
This weekend, with promotion in their sights, it’s a trip to Ennis for Flanagan’s charges – the latest milepost at the outset of what might just become a very special journey for Kildare football.
