Jason Ryan says Kildare GAA must pull together and fight ahead of next season after their humiliating defeat to Kerry at Croke Park.
The Lilywhites conceded seven goals against Kerry in a 7-16 to 0-10 defeat that saw Colm Cooper and Darran O'Sullivan score two each with Donnchadh Walsh, Stephen O'Brien and sub Barry John Keane each netting once.
Ryan said: "There is a lot of hurt , a lot of guys in there very disappointed. Players, mentors, backroom team. Everybody. When we lose together. It’s difficult to take but we’ve got to live with it and Kildare GAA just has to go on and fight and prepare for next season again."
Asked about his own future with the county, Ryan said: "Today’s is today, and we’ll deal with today".
Kerry manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice said that strength in depth was his side's biggest asset following their seven-goal demolition of the Lilywhites.
"It was a funny one. We just seemed to get in for goals and the lads stuck the chances away," Fitzmaurice told RTÉ Sport. "It was all about winning today, whether that was by a point or a bigger margin.
"We've a strong squad and if we can keep that squad together and keep that strong squad mentality hopefully we can keep winning games."
Fitzmaurice revealed that he decided to replace Kieran Donaghy with Colm Cooper after the captain suffered a groin injury in training during the week.
Cooper went on to score 2-3 in his first championship start since 2013, while substitute Darran O'Sullivan also chipped in with 2-1.
"Kieran had a bit of a groin strain. It was nothing too serious but on Thursday night he gave it a small bit of a jolt," said Fitzmaurice.
"We were worried that if he played he might do serious damage to it and it could rule him out for the rest of the season so we erred on the side of caution. Thankfully it worked out fine.
"It was great for Colm, he did very well. It was great for him to get 70 minutes under his belt. He's trained particularly well since the drawn Cork game and he was probably frustrated with the role of a sub.
"Darran [O'Sullivan] is flying. His body is right. He's another fella who has probably been frustrated from the point of view of game time but he's kept at it and when he came on today he really took his chance."
