O'Halloran rues "sloppy" performance
Credit:
Following their heavy defeat to UCD in the Belfield Bowl last Friday evening, Kildare County assistant manager Keith O'Halloran (who was patrolling the sideline instead of the suspended Joey Somerville) was making no excuses for the way that they played on the night.
“I think we contributed a lot to it [the heavy defeat]. Defending wise we just never started the game. To be fair they're a good side and that, but we didn't do ourselves justice night”, said O'Halloran.
“From the first minute to the 90th minute we were sloppy. We've been working on it for the last week or two. Certain lads aren't switching on, come the end of the season a lot of lads will be going out the door, and a few more will be coming in. So, they've got to learn their lesson now”.
O'Halloran also lamented the way that County seem unable to put good performances back-to-back and also felt that the only positive to be taken from the game was that it wasn't more than five goals they lost by.
“It's typical of us. We're up one week, and then we go the next week and make mistakes. We worked so hard the other night, played well, did everything right and then for some reason tonight we go back to square one. That it was only five was probably the only positive. I mean it could have been ten the way we defended; from back to front we were just awful”.
County finished the game with only nine men after an injury to Christy Doran and a red-card to Craig Purcell. O'Halloran revealed that Doran should be fine for Friday's game against Mervue United and also added that he felt Purcell's dismissal was slightly harsh.
“Yeah, he [Doran] just got a little tweak in a tackle and he just went over on his side. He should be okay for the next day. To be fair we were too far away [from the sending-off], but it looked from where we were standing that it wasn't much. The tackle, it looked like a yellow, it didn't look like a red. But like I said we were 50/60 yards away, so it was hard to tell. It's a loss though, because we'll probably have four or five suspended for the next match”, concluded O'Halloran.
“I think we contributed a lot to it [the heavy defeat]. Defending wise we just never started the game. To be fair they're a good side and that, but we didn't do ourselves justice night”, said O'Halloran.
“From the first minute to the 90th minute we were sloppy. We've been working on it for the last week or two. Certain lads aren't switching on, come the end of the season a lot of lads will be going out the door, and a few more will be coming in. So, they've got to learn their lesson now”.
O'Halloran also lamented the way that County seem unable to put good performances back-to-back and also felt that the only positive to be taken from the game was that it wasn't more than five goals they lost by.
“It's typical of us. We're up one week, and then we go the next week and make mistakes. We worked so hard the other night, played well, did everything right and then for some reason tonight we go back to square one. That it was only five was probably the only positive. I mean it could have been ten the way we defended; from back to front we were just awful”.
County finished the game with only nine men after an injury to Christy Doran and a red-card to Craig Purcell. O'Halloran revealed that Doran should be fine for Friday's game against Mervue United and also added that he felt Purcell's dismissal was slightly harsh.
“Yeah, he [Doran] just got a little tweak in a tackle and he just went over on his side. He should be okay for the next day. To be fair we were too far away [from the sending-off], but it looked from where we were standing that it wasn't much. The tackle, it looked like a yellow, it didn't look like a red. But like I said we were 50/60 yards away, so it was hard to tell. It's a loss though, because we'll probably have four or five suspended for the next match”, concluded O'Halloran.
About Daire Walsh
Daire Walsh began reporting for Extratime in 2009, when he covered Kildare County's games in the League Of Ireland First Division. He currently reports on games involving the league's Dublin sides and also Bray Wanderers. … View Full Profile