Carlow GAA Discussion Thread

I remember where this side was only 3 years ago, during the end of Anthony Rainbow's time in charge. Expectations, moral and player commitment to the side was as low as I seen it. Shipped some heavy beatings that year against Tipp, Clare & Meath, along with convincing defeats against other so called minnows in division 4. The future of Carlow football looked bleak and I even remember the county chairman at the time stating publicly if things got worse, Carlow would no longer field a senior football team.

To see the strides Carlow football has made since then has been staggering and extremely satisfying to those who remember the bad times (and trust me there has been many). Alot of credit must go to Turlough O'Brien, who steadily regained the confidence & belief of the players who he took charge of. Getting Stephen Poacher in was also a key addition, as you can see the fitness levels & conditioning of the team grow year after year.

At the start of nearly every season, you could probably name a team of players who did not commit to the county, that would arguably be better than what the county was fielding. That's not the case anymore and it's even great seeing Carlow actually putting out a team with it's best players on the field.

I know alot of people around the country are probably bemused by the coverage this team has gotten having "just" won promotion from the bottom tier of inter county football, but it's hard to explain to people who have no concept of being starved of even the slightest bit of success for such a long period of time.

king size mars bar wrote: »

Great post TaosHum, very happy to see the footballers get out of div 4, a must if they to improve at all. More fond of the smaller ball and those boys are only a win away from promotion too. Let's not take anything away from the footballers and the massive effort by all involved with the team to get them where they are now.
I was a very proud Carlow man Sunday evening sitting down waiting for Carlow's mention on the Sunday game. #carlowrising

Yeah, huge game for the hurlers on Saturday. They badly need to get out of division 2 and have come close the last few years. Having seen them earlier in the year against Westmeath, I have my doubts they will be able to turn them over, but having said that, results would suggest they have improved as the year has progressed. Good road wins against Meath & Kerry certainly gives room for optimism.

Would be a fantastic 6 days for Carlow GAA if they can do it. Will need strong performances from their key men though. Felt the Westmeath backline got the better of Kavanagh, Byrne, Nolan & Murphy last time out and James Doyle's red card after only 10 minutes of coming on was crucial.

Hard loss to take on Saturday, but huge credit to the lads for pushing Laois all the way. Game was there for Carlow, but their finishing really let them down in the end. Too many balls dropped into the keepers hands, bad wides and make-able frees missed was what cost Carlow. Hopefully some of that can be tidied up before they come up against Louth in the Championship.

What a performance!

Wasn't able to get up to it, but was edge of the seat stuff on the radio. Huge achievement against a division 1 outfit. Broderick was unstoppable and no Carlow kicked no wides!

Huge belief in this side and massive credit to the players and coaching staff!

Huge weekend for Carlow GAA coming up. The hurlers take on Westmeath knowing anything but defeat will ensure a place in the Joe McDonagh final. I thought they will struggle to bounce back after the Antrim defeat, but they regrouped well to put themselves in a good position.

For the footballers, they will never have a better chance to reach a Leinster final. I'm just hoping they can maintain the standards they have set so far in the championship and learn the lessons of the league defeat to Laois a couple of months back.