Former Kildare star Dermot Earley admits the Lilywhites' early league form is 'worrying'.

Jason Ryan's charges have zero points on the board following disappointing defeats to Down and Meath and, speaking to The Irish Independent, the Sarsfields man said: "I would never panic in February to be honest but it is worrying a little bit.

"We realised at the start we needed to get back into Division 1, that's where you want to be.

"The All-Ireland will be won by a team from Division 1 and if you want to win Leinster you are going to be playing Dublin a couple of times during the year and you can try and improve off that."

Earley is keeping his fingers crossed that Ryan and his players can turn things around, starting with the visit of Westmeath to Newbridge on March 1.

"The chance isn't gone, we can win the remaining five games and get back up but certainly those two games were very important to get that ball rolling.

"The three-week break, I would have felt in the past that Kildare haven't kicked off from that like other teams do.

"So it will be interesting to see how they react in the first weekend in March because other county teams do use those weeks to push on and Kildare haven't in the past and they need to do that this time.

"I was at the Tyrone game last year and that hurt the boys and you can question yourself a little bit. I'd rather it happens earlier than later on.

"We're going to see how mentally tough they are."

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