'That wasn't pretty at all' - Brian Flanagan frank on nature of Kildare win
Kildare manager Brian Flanagan was happy to admit that his side had to resort to winning ugly in their Tailteann Cup semi-final against Fermanagh, but securing a berth in the final was no small feat for a county with a dire record at Croke Park.
The Lilywhites recorded just their fourth win in 24 games at HQ as Fermanagh were dispatched on a 1-13 to 0-09 scoreline.
A couple of downpours and slippery underfoot conditions conspired to produce an instantly forgettable affair, although Brian McLoughlin's scoring prowess off the bench was a joy to behold.
"That wasn't pretty at all," Flanagan freely admitted in his post-match interview with RTÉ Sport. "I don't think the highlights reel will take too long on TV! Probably a hard watch for people, but from our point of view a semi-final is there to be won.
"There's obviously a little bit of history on the negative side with Kildare coming to Croker in the last few years and not winning.
"Winning was everything today and moving on for three weeks' time and knowing that we won't get away with a performance like that.
"But it was enough to win today. It won't be enough in three weeks, but we are delighted to win."
"We didn't play well, we were poor on the day, but we found a way to win," Kildare manager Brian Flanagan's candidly admits after overcoming Fermanagh in the semi-finals of the Tailteann Cup pic.twitter.com/FaE1TbQUYF
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 22, 2025
Kildare's general profligacy in front of the posts is a weakness Flanagan must address before the decider against Limerick, with the manager of the view that nerves got the better of many of his forwards.
"Maybe nerves and anxiety got in on a few lads, in terms of pulling the trigger today," he opined. "We did look a little bit apprehensive for a lot of the game.
"Obviously Brian McLoughlin comes in and he seemed to kick with a bit of freedom and brought us into the game and brought other lads out of their shell a small bit.
"James's goal at the end then just gave us that breathing space, but we didn't really open up until probably the last five to 10 minutes, very tight up to that.
"Conditions to be fair, there were a couple of really, really heavy downpours throughout the game and that didn't help but I'm not making excuses.
"We didn't play well, we were poor on the day but we found a way to win in the last five or 10 minutes and we move on from it."
McLoughlin only entered the fray for Ryan Sinkey in the 44th minute, but finished the match with a personal haul of five points, with his unerring accuracy earning him the man of the match award.
"I suppose I was probably a little bit disappointed not to get much game time last week and I put my shoulder to the wheel during the week, just hoping to get called upon at some stage and luckily a few of the shots went over," the sharpshooter said afterwards.
"When we lost to Louth, we were obviously very disappointed but Flanno and the lads said we really needed to drive on in this Tailteann Cup and it will be an opportunity to play Sam Maguire next year so it's another step in the right direction and we'll look forward to three weeks' time."
Echoing his manager's sentiments that the result rather than performance was paramount, he added: "A lot of things didn't go our way in the first half and I think our kick-outs were a little bit disappointing and we missed a lot.
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