Outgoing Kildare manager Glenn Ryan admitted he "couldn't get the best" out of his Lilywhites squad this year but rued the fact he may not have had all of the top players in the county available to him.
Ryan stepped down after Kildare’s Tailteann Cup quarter-final exit at the hands of Laois in O’Connor Park, Tullamore this afternoon, bringing to an end a three-year reign in the Leinster side’s dugout.
Just over 13 months ago, Kildare pushed Dublin to the brink in the tightest Leinster final we have seen in years, suggesting the Lilywhites might be gaining ground on their all-conquering neighbours.
The intervening year has been a testing one for Ryan and his management team however. They lost all seven games in Division 2 in the Allianz League, meaning they will drop to the third tier for 2025, and were beaten in the provincial semi-final by Louth, which relegated them to the Tailteann Cup.
"Up to this year, we had the services of everybody but unfortunately, through injury and different things, we haven’t had the quality that’s available in Kildare togging out. That’s an issue with most counties," Ryan told the assembled media after the loss to Laois.
"If you get all your right players out, all your strongest players… but Kildare have a strong base and I still felt that despite that, we should have been able to perform better than what we did this year.
"From a management perspective, you try and get the best out of the team no matter what you have available to you and I don’t think I got the best out of these lads.
"The year has obviously been very disappointing. It’s not what we would have envisaged at the start. The last time we left here, we left after a disappointing defeat that we could probably hold our heads up from. We’re going out today with our heads down and that’s extremely disappointing.
"My intention taking on this job was to try and make Kildare football better. I really thought I was going to be in a position where we could move it forward and we haven’t. At this stage, when things stop or regress, there’s no point in trying to swim against the tide.
"I’ve given this, along with the management team, the best shot that I thought I could and it’s time to try something else."
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