If there is one thing different about Kildare football this summer it might be in the face, neck and shoulders of Mick Foley. Gone is some of the broad and burly physique that became their trademark under Kieran McGeeney, with Foley sporting a leaner, more athletic look instead.
It may not be entirely intentional, although Foley agrees that something had to change when Jason Ryan took over as manager this season: Kildare had tried to muscle their way back to the top of the province, but still found something lacking when it came to the final showdowns, especially against Dublin.
“In some ways all managers are all going to put their own personal stamp on it,” says Foley. “Obviously if you compare Kieran and Jason they’re very different characters, and obviously they are going to try and put their own stamp on things too.
“So yeah, different things have been addressed this year, because if you keep trying to do the same things all the time you’re not going to change the results. So we have changed a few things and hopefully that might make the difference.
Now 30, with a decade of intercounty football under his belt, Foley is definitely one of Kildare’s most experienced players, at a time when Ryan has been generally favouring Kildare’s youth. But if a team needs experience in any position these days it’s a full back, which is why Foley remains so important to the team.
“I think for Kildare I’ve always been lining out at number three. I have tried a few different positions – centre-back, full-back, midfield – but I’ve been a defender for most of my career.
‘On your toes’
“These days, any top intercounty forward, if they get half a chance, they will try and pull the trigger, and go for goal. So you have to be on your toes the whole time. You put as much pressure as possible, and never let your guard down.”
On Sunday, Kildare face off against a Meath team undergoing a bit of a transition of their own. Meath did put 7-13 past Carlow in their quarter-final, and both Meath and Kildare will relish the chance to take on Dublin in the Leinster final (unless of course Wexford take them out in Sunday’s second semi-final).
Kildare had it equally easy against Louth, but when Foley recalls a previous meeting with Meath – and their All-Ireland qualifier in Navan, in 2011 – he knows that Sunday’s game won’t have much room to breathe.
“I’ll never forget the atmosphere, in Navan that day. The best I’ve ever experienced. It was one of those games where you just forgot about everything else, and your tongue is hanging out for the whole lot of it.
“Meath threw everything they had at us, and we threw everything we had at them and luckily enough we came out with two points at the end.
“But I just remember being just saturated and physically drained at the end from the actual battle that was involved. Because the crowd was in on top of us and it was just a real rip-roaring championship match and one that really stood out for me.
“I still remember sitting in the dressing room after it just being on a high, and I could imagine the feeling in the opposite dressing room.”
Black card
The introduction of the black card has added another branch to the art of defending, although Foley is supportive: “The GAA have set out their stall in the way they want to market the game now and obviously they want a high scoring game. So you just have to adapt to that. It doesn’t change the intensity with which I tackle my man. But the only person that knows they deliberately fouled a man is the actual person that committed that foul, so it’s very hard for referees.
“I got one black card, against the Dubs (in the league), and we actually appealed it, because we clearly believed it wasn’t a black card (the appeal was rejected).
“I can tell you now that I didn’t deliberately pull down the man that night. It was a clumsy tackle, sure enough. But the referee thought it warranted a black card that night.
“It says in the rules that you have to deliberately foul your man. How can a referee be sure if I deliberately pulled down a man, unless they ask me the question?”
