| Kildare | |
| Crest: | Kildare GAA crest.png |
| Sport: | Football |
| Irish: | Cill Dara |
| Nickname: | The Lilywhites |
| County Board: | Kildare GAA |
| Manager: | Vacant |
| Home Venues: | St Conleth's Park, Newbridge |
| Sfc: | Leinster (SF) in 2024 |
| Last Championship Title: | 1928 |
| Nfl Division: | 2 (8th in 2024; relegated to Division 3) |
| Last League Title: | None |
| Pattern B1: | _oneills23 onwhite |
| Leftarm1: | ffffff |
| Body1: | 888888 |
| Rightarm1: | ffffff |
| Shorts1: | ffffff |
| Socks1: | ffffff |
| Pattern B2: | _adidas_shouldpipes |
| Leftarm2: | 000000 |
| Body2: | 000000 |
| Rightarm2: | 000000 |
| Shorts2: | 000000 |
| Socks2: | 000000 |
The Kildare county football team represents Kildare in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Kildare GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Leinster Senior Football Championship and the National Football League.
Kildare's home ground is St Conleth's Park, Newbridge. The team's manager is vacant.
The team last won the Leinster Senior Championship in 2000, the All-Ireland Senior Championship in 1928 and has never won the National League.
Kildare first entered the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) in 1888, and lost to Dublin by a scoreline of 2–7 to 0–1.
Kildare made a major contribution towards the evolution of rules and tactics in Gaelic football. The county was the first to abandon the tradition of playing 21 people on each team, using 16 on each team for a period. Kildare players invented the hand pass: a polished team tactic since 1903; The toe-to-hand was pioneered by the Roseberry (now Newbridge Sarsfields) club. A team made up of players from the two strongest clubs in the county, Roseberry and Clane, played Kerry three times for the All-Ireland Championship of 1903; the matches drew the first mass interest in a field sport in the country, had an aggregate attendance of 50,000, and were regarded as the games which "made the GAA."
Kildare's four All-Ireland titles were won between 1905 and 1928: over Kerry in 1905, Galway in 1919, and Kerry again in 1927 and Cavan in the 1928 final. Kildare became the first team to win the Sam Maguire Cup in 1928. They haven't won it since.
Tactics such as the hand pass were perfected by those early Kildare teams, but they also developed what became traditional catch-and-kick football. Olympic high jumper Larry Stanley was regarded as one of the greatest fielders in the history of the game, and first winner of the all-time All Star award.
Despite winning a Leinster Senior Football Championship in 1956, reaching the National League final in 1958 and 1968, and winning the All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship in 1965, Kildare footballers seemed to have difficulty maintaining their proud tradition. The county lost six Leinster finals in the twelve years between 1966 and 1978. Although the Raheens club won a Leinster Senior Club Football Championship title in 1983.
In 1991, former Kerry manager Mick O'Dwyer took charge of the county football team. Kildare lost two more Leinster finals to Dublin in 1992 and 1993, as well as the National League final of 1991. When Dublin came back for a draw in 1994 and won the replay, O'Dwyer was succeeded by Dermot Earley Snr for two years. He returned in 1997, and guided the county to victory over Laois with 13 players and a dramatic, twice replayed series of matches with Meath (which they lost) that captured the imagination of the public and steeled the side for further honors.
In 1998, the Kildare team became the only team in 110 years of championship football to beat the previous three champions, Dublin, Meath and Kerry in turn only to lose to Galway in the All-Ireland final; despite leading by three points at half time. Another Leinster followed in 2000, but Galway defeated them in the semi-final. Leinster Final defeats followed in 2002 and 2003, against Dublin and a Laois side back-boned by their All-Ireland MFC winning sides of the late 1990s. In (2005), Kildare enjoyed mixed success and finished in the top six in the National Football League, but was knocked out of the championship by Sligo.[1]
In 2008 under the new management of Kieran McGeeney Kildare made a bit of unfortunate history by becoming the first team ever to lose a championship game to Wicklow in Croke Park, losing in the first round by 0–13 to 0–9. However Kildares season took a turn for the better after that by beating Cavan, Limerick and Fermanagh in the all- Ireland qualifiers to reach their first ever all-ireland quarter-final. To date in 2009, an improved Kildare side reached the Leinster Final only to suffer a defeat to Dublin. Kildare advanced to the All-Ireland quarter-final to play then All-Ireland champions Tyrone after beating Wicklow only to be knocked out by Tyrone. 2010 saw Kildare lose to Louth in the 2nd round. However Kildare had a great run through the qualifiers beating teams like Antrim, Leitrim, Derry and Monaghan to once again reach the All-Ireland Quarter-final to face Leinster champions Meath which they got a slow start but enjoyed the 2nd half as they ran out winning 2–17 to 1–12. to reach the All-Semi-final for the first time since 2000. On 29 August 2010 Kildare faced Down for the first time ever in the championship which turned out to be a very tense game but Down ran out winners 1–16 to 1–14 after a very frantic finish. 2011 saw Kildare advance to the Leinster semi-final after defeating Meath in the Leinster quarter-final only to be defeated by Dublin. Kildare had a good run in the qualifiers beating teams like Laois, Meath & Derry to advance to the All-Ireland quarter-final to face Ulster champions Donegal which turned to be a very poor performance but the 2nd half was a real contest from both sides with the sides finishing level to drag the game into extra-time only to be defeated by a single point by Donegal.[2] Then in 2015 Cian O'Neill became manager after being with the Kerry backroom. In 2017 Kildare reached a first Leinster SFC final in 10 years. Only losing to Dublin by 9 points (Dublin 2–23 Kildare 1–17).
Glenn Ryan hired to manage the team from October 2021. Laois knocked Kildare out of the 2024 Tailteann Cup and that was that for Ryan.
The Kildare crest had a serpent on it until 1993, reflecting that of Kildare County Council, itself based on the crest for the town of Naas. When Kildare County Council had the Heraldic Office of Ireland create a proper crest in 1991, and with Kildare fans regarding the serpent as a bad omen, the Kildare Supporters' Club requested a new one for their county teams; this featured acorns above a bunch of lilies (the county council one differed in that it had a Brigid's cross, a harp, a horse's head and acorns).[3] Kildare still lost in the first round of the Leinster Senior Football Championship (SFC) for three years afterwards, from 1994 until 1996.[3]
The 1993 crest is no longer in use.
There is a Kildare Supporters' Club.[3]
Kildare had songs in the official Irish Top 40 ahead of the 1998 All-Ireland SFC final.[3] These were "C'mon you Lilywhites" by Sean Brennan and "Up the Lilywhites" by Brendan Cummins.[3]
Other songs from then included "The Lilywhites Are On The March" by John Rafferty, "Cill Dara Abu" by Paul McCormack and "The Power and the Glory" by the Patrician Primary Pipe and Brass Band.[3]
Appointed Month 2024:
Vacant
Vacant
|
| 1975–1981 | Eamonn O'Donoghue | ||
| 1982–1984 | Bobby Burns | ||
| 1985 | Eamonn O'Donoghue (2) | ||
| 1986–1987 (pt.) | John Courtney | ||
| 1987 (pt.)–1990 | Pat Fitzgerald | ||
| 1991–1994 | Mick O'Dwyer | ||
| 1995–1996 | Dermot Earley | ||
| 1997–2002 | Mick O'Dwyer (2) | 1998 Leinster Senior Football Championship, 2000 Leinster Senior Football Championship | |
| 2002–2005[4] [5] [6] | Pádraig Nolan | ||
| 2005–2007[7] [8] [9] | John Crofton | Sarsfields | |
| 2007–2013[10] [11] | Kieran McGeeney | 2012 NFL Division 2 | |
| 2013–2015[12] [13] [14] | Jason Ryan | ||
| 2016–2019[15] [16] [17] | Cian O'Neill | Moorefield | |
| 2020–2021[18] [19] | Jack O'Connor | ||
| 2021–2024[20] [21] | Glenn Ryan | Round Towers | |
| 2024– | Vacant | ||