‘It’s meant to be a neutral venue’ - Kildare boss Glenn Ryan launches scathing attack on GAA after tight defeat to Dublin

“It’s meant to be a neutral venue, they say - it’s not,” Ryan declared during a multi-pronged complaint about arrangements for the second Leinster semi-final.

The Kildare boss insisted it was not a case of “sour grapes” and stressed that he had no gripe with Longford referee Fergal Kelly’s handling of the contest, but rather several other issues.

“Fergal Kelly I thought did a great job but in general from the sideline, from officials, you just always feel that you’re getting treated second-rate,” he claimed.

On a day when Stephen Cluxton made his first Dublin appearance since the 2020 All-Ireland final, even the 41-year-old goalkeeper’s return was overshadowed by the poverty of his team’s performance – and the post-match reaction of the losing manager.

Ryan took issue with a linesman’s contentious decision to award a line ball even though Daniel Flynn appeared to have kept the ball in play; a foray by Dublin selector Darren Daly into the Kildare technical area, sparking an angry touchline exchange; and even the decision to push back the throw-in time by 30 minutes after the earlier Louth/Offaly semi-final went to extra-time.

“We were down in Carlow last week and you are told out on the pitch on the intercom that the game is delayed ten minutes. Nothing came through our official channels,” he began.

“Today we are told the [Louth/Offaly] game is going to extra-time so our game is pushed back until 4.30, maybe 4.35. That’s if it doesn’t go to penalties - and if it goes to penalties we’ll let you know what the next start is.

“I thought we were past that kind of, planning just in case. Surely if the game today was started to take penalties and extra-time into account, well then it should have been, not time set, well if this happens then we can change things around.

“But then there’s the familiarity that Dublin have with here, that no other team gets a chance, and it does benefit them.

“And I’m probably echoing the thoughts of most other counties. But then the sideline - it’s always our players that get told to put the gumshield in by a fourth official or a fifth official.

“It’s always the fourth official telling our sideline to maybe step back a bit, when a mentor from the Dublin team is actually standing in ours.

“And then you see a sideline ball that’s nowhere near a sideline ball given against you.

“There was no one incident in the game that swung it,” he accepted. “You can talk about sour grapes if you like, but it’s a familiarity that’s certainly not Dublin’s fault.

“It’s frustrating. All these calls seem to come at the big moments when it’s going into the deciding stages of the game.”

Asked specifically about a flashpoint between the Kildare management with Dublin selector Daly, after an on-field incident that resulted in a yellow card for James McCarthy, Ryan replied: “But where was he? In our designated area, but yet I’m being told to tell one of my officials, to tell them to sit down … how is that? You talk about things that should and shouldn’t work out.

“That has nothing go to do with what happened on the pitch. I don’t want people thinking I’m sitting up here giving out because we got beaten.

“I’m frustrated we were beaten, absolutely. But it’s meant to be a neutral venue, they say - it’s not.”

Asked if the Leinster semi-finals (which attracted a double-header crowd of 30,499) should be played in the provinces instead of Croke Park, Ryan responded: “Well, if they weren’t able to accommodate penalties and extra-time today, without moving the times of the game, of course it should it have been played in a neutral venue. Whether one of the games is here and the other one somewhere else, so be it. But common sense tells you. Like, why do the players always have to suffer in regards to these things?

“We were going through our warm-up, and then you’re told it’s not just put back ten or 15 minutes, it’s put back half-an-hour. And that’s the same for Dublin, absolutely, there’s no difference in terms of the treatment of us and Dublin in that regard.

“But surely with all these games coming as quick and as often, and the schedule that is put on players, the planning should be focussed mostly on what’s best for the players. And, you know, telling teams when they’re out on the pitch on one occasion; and then giving maybe approximate times as to, well, if it goes to penalties, it could be another time.

“Sure why didn’t they start us at six o’clock this evening? Sure what difference would that have made? At least we would have known our plans. And again, Dublin are in the same boat – they had to put up with that too.”

For Kildare, there was at least one consolation in their 0-14 to 0-12 defeat: results elsewhere ensured they wouldn’t be heading for the Tailteann Cup.

Asked if that had figured in his recent thinking, he admitted: “Oh, of course it does. Sure these fellas have tried to ask me that question for the last number of weeks, and I’ve batted it away! But, for f***’s sake, it would keep you awake at night.

“And people say, ‘Don’t think about it’ – of course you think about it, because we’re a proud county and we want to be putting ourselves in a position of competing at that level. And I certainly firmly believe that we proved today we should be competing at this level.

“But, Jaysus, it’s tough going! I have to give out about them in some ways, but it’s a great system; it has you hanging and keeps you awake at night, but it keeps everybody interested and it seems, from a team perspective, it makes every game hugely important.”