Dick Clerkin has suggested that Kildare and their manager Glenn Ryan are being hypocritical in saying that Dublin have a Croke Park advantage over other teams while not also acknowledging that they have a similar edge over non-Leinster teams.
"Everything is laid out up here from a familiarity perspective, from a games perspective and everything else seems to go their way as well," Ryan told GAAGO after Sunday's two-point Leinster semi-final against Dublin.
'The same argument applies to Kildare's familiarity with Croke Park'
Dublin have played their home league games at Croke Park since 2011.
30 April 2023; Jack Sargent of Kildare in action against Ross McGarry and Tom Lahiff of Dublin during the Leinster GAA Football Senior Championship Semi Final match between Dublin and Kildare at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
"There's a bit of hypocrisy around it from Glenn and Kildare's point of view," former Monaghan footballer Clerkin told Independent'ie's The Throw-in podcast.
"If you take his argument that Dublin have an advantage over Kildare because of their familiarity with Croke Park versus the Kildare players, which he's right [about], the same argument applies to Kildare's familiarity with Croke Park against other non-Leinster counties.
"If you run the stats, the amount of times Kildare have played in Croke Park for the last 30 years, I'd say they're up there with the top five teams in the country in terms of their familiarity and exposure to Croke Park.
"Kildare have been quite happy while Newbridge was - and I'll not mince my words - a disgrace of a county ground for a county with the resources they have... They never put a penny into it and were quite happy for the last 20 - 30 years to play in Croke Park. They were able to pump money into their county teams and everyone else was investing in their grounds. You can't be just picking and choosing when it suits.
"If Glenn Ryan's not happy about Dublin's advantage, the exact same argument applies to their advantage. That's my issue. Glenn's right, but he's also wrong."
30 April 2023; Kildare manager Glenn Ryan with referee Fergal Kelly before the Leinster GAA Football Senior Championship Semi Final match between Dublin and Kildare at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
Clerkin added that though many Ulster Championship games are played at St Tiernach's Park in Clones, no one complains about Monaghan having an advantage due to matches being played at their home ground.
"A lot of it has to do with Monaghan not dominating Ulster," said Clerkin.
"This is all about winning and losing. If Glenn's Kildare had won yesterday, we wouldn't be talking about this. Glenn Ryan certainly wouldn't have been talking sour grapes, and there was an element of that. He was frustrated, annoyed with stuff that happened, annoyed that they had an opportunity to win [but didn't take it].
"Let the administrators sort [Dublin's Croke Park advantage] out. Make a campaign to say, 'We need to do better'. That's not solved on the football pitch. That's not Glenn Ryan's job, not the players' job. It's time for the Kildare County Board and other county boards to solve that other problem if they want to, and I'm not sure if they do."
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