James McCartan is expecting a back-lash from Kildare in Sunday's qualifier clash at Newry.

The Down boss doesn't subscribe to the theory that morale in the Lilywhites camp must be low following their Leinster SFC defeat to Meath.

"Whenever we got Kildare, my first thought was that they would be psychologically down after losing the game whereas we had just won one," McCartan remarked to the Irish News.

"But then I saw the last 20 minutes of their game against Meath. They were 11 points down and they nearly managed to turn it around."

He added: "We see a team that we can beat. But they can beat us. We would both like to think of ourselves as top 10 teams but we are probably at the lower end of it.

"Both of us would be happy enough with the draws that we got. We would be hoping that home venue will swing it for us."

McCartan revealed that the two teams recently met in a challenge game at Carton House, before the start of the championship, which the Lilywhites won while he confirmed that full-back Benny McArdle (ankle) is his main injury concern.

"We played an in-house game on Sunday and he was the only person missing. I've been told to prepare without him." Tweet

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