Cian O'Neill believes that Kildare's eight-year absence from the Leinster football final wasn't good enough for a county of its size.
While Kildare were centimetres away from reaching the All-Ireland final in 2010, they haven't played in a Leinster final since 2009.
For the current Kildare manager, such a record is unacceptable. Speaking to RTÉ's Saturday Sport after his side beat Meath in the semi-final in Tullamore, he acknowledged he was part of that story.
"D'you know what, that's just not good enough," he said.
"That's not good enough for a county like Kildare that prides itself on its football. And listen I was part of that last year because I managed a team that didn't get there last year either when we should have.
"So it's great that we are back there. And everyone from players, backroom, county board, Club Kildare deserves credit because a lot of work goes in behind the scenes to make today happen."
O'Neill endured a difficult first year in the Kildare job. His side were dumped out of the Leinster championship by Westmeath in front of a largely empty Croke Park and their overall interest in the championship was ended Mayo at a relatively early stage in the qualifiers.
The difference between the apparent stagnation of 2016 and the impressive progression made in 2017 is striking.
"We really were disappointed last year. We let ourselves down. But in fairness to the boys, everything was different about this year. From the very, very start. They followed up a good performance against Laois with a great performance today. But that's all it was.
"Obviously, there's a big, big match coming down the road in four weeks time. And if that performance isn't upped another two or threefold we'll find ourselves wanting again."
O'Neill attaches a lot of praise to his selectors Enda Murphy and Ronan Sweeney who were drafted in last November.
"We'd a new management. Enda (Murphy) and Rolly (Ronan Sweeney) have come in. They've been absolutely fantastic. The three of us have a really relationship. And all we do is lay the plans out. The players execute and work as hard as they can.
"But you saw it in January. They were playing well. We'd a really good League, They brought it into Laois. Freak results don't happen too often. For me this was just a lot of hard work and they've got the juice."
