Kildare manager Cian O'Neill admits that he and his management team have a difficult task ahead of them in lifting the players' spirits following their relegation from NFL 1.

The Lilywhites lost all seven of their Division One games. They did produce some decent performances and lady luck was not on their side on occasions, but ultimately the fact is that they are back plying their trade in Division Two next season.

O'Neill pointed to the fact that as the campaign progressed, their performances began to slip and ultimately this led to a knock in confidence that needs to be repaired over the coming weeks.

"As I said after match two, three and four we were going into training every night positive because there were very small margins in those games but the Mayo game was a real hammer blow because we totally underperformed and that impacted going to Kerry last week and while we were competitive in large parts of that game we were still beaten by a better team, that hits confidence," O'Neill told the Leinster Leader.

"There is no point in saying anything else but our confidence is very low and you could see that in our execution against Galway; I don't think it was a lack of care, lack of fight or lack of sacrifice. I don't think that is fair on the lads, but I think no more that when momentum goes against you; when your confidence is low, even the most basic things look different.

"We are taking the week off, the lads need a break; need a break from the management; they need a break from me and vice versa and it will give them breathing space before we then prepare for championship and that is my job as a manager and also the job of the players; we have to stick together, work our way through this because it is going to be a challenge these next eight weeks and we need to be ready for that challenge, but we are planning for a long summer despite our league results."

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