Carlow GAA Discussion Thread

jack o shea · 07-04-2014 1:35am

were carlow not giving out stink a few months ago about not been allowed play with the big boys?and now they cant even get out of the crap division they were in!!! all talk no action....

[Deleted User] · 07-04-2014 2:00am

jack o shea wrote: »

were carlow not giving out stink a few months ago about not been allowed play with the big boys?and now they cant even get out of the crap division they were in!!! all talk no action....

Think your being a bit unfair there. Carlow rightly objected on principle to the fact that the 2A champions faced a playoff against the relegation losers of 1b in order to promote. Carlow won all bar 2 games in their division which they lost to a good Kerry side. . Kerry have been much improved this year and hopefully can now beat Offaly and go up.

I'd have more respect for counties that are trying to come up and improve rather then some who have let standards drop but due to their sense of entitlement, expect handouts from the association.

Carlow are a small county in both population and size so it's unfair to attack the clear hard work that has gone on in the county evident by some good performances at underage last year and the rise of MLR.

Cop yourself on

TaosHum · 07-04-2014 11:36am

Fair play to Kerry yesterday. Better team won. Hopefully they go on to beat Offaly next week as they deserve to be in Division 1B at this point.

Another year against inferior opposition for Carlow in the league is not good for the counties development, but if they continue to get the same commitment from players they will be up there again next year.

Anyways, there is still 4 games in the Championship to come, with the first game in Ruislip only three weeks away. Carlow will need to pick themselves up from yesterday, as London won't be easy.

jack o shea · 08-04-2014 1:11am

how are carlow playing inferior opposition again nxt year if they couldnt top the division this year then they are no better than the other teams?

[Deleted User] · 08-04-2014 11:18am

jack o shea wrote: »

how are carlow playing inferior opposition again nxt year if they couldnt top the division this year then they are no better than the other teams?

Where are Carlow quoted as saying anything about having to play inferior opposition?

They were complaining about the double standards of the winner of 1B being promoted without having to play a final and yet the top team in 2A having to play a 2A final and then another tie breaker against the relegated team in 1B and they had every right to complain.

Im sure its not just Carlow who complained either. Im sure the other developing counties trying to get youngsters hurling are hoping the GAA will see sense on this ridiculous scenario too. The likes of Westmeath, Down or Kerry.

Carlow were already in 1b last year and didnt disgrace themselves by any means.

Now the GAA have ensured that they, Kerry, Westmeath or whoever else that wins 2A will face even more difficulty in achieving promotion by having to play a team who have the advantage of playing league games at a higher level.

In Sundays case, Kerry with only experience of playing 2A teams (with all due respect to them) have to play Offaly who have experience of playing the likes of Cork, Limerick and Wexford this year.

It all smacks of a desire to close the shop. There was no justification for the promoted team from 2A having to prove themselves that they are cut out for 1b and both Laois this year and Carlow last year have rammed this down their throats. Kerry by beating Carlow twice this year have proved that they too are capable of competing at 1B level.

The Difference in fitness is the big thing with many of these teams. Kerry were 4 points behind Tipp going into the last ten minutes in a recent Waterford Crystal Cup meeting.

I think perhaps the GAA should look at a 10 + 8 model (10 teams in Div 1 and 8 teams in Div 2) with 2 promotions and 2 relegations. What do others think? The way i see it if Carlow could promote from Div 2 in that scenario then they would benefit from getting 9 games at least against some top opposition. The danger is there could be too much of a gulf between 1 and 2.

Stevecw · 27-04-2014 9:44pm

Shocking bad result for Carlow in London today. Pulling off a lucky draw is very disappointing.
So much has gone wrong the last few weeks, with training, guys dropping off etc and today was the result of all that.

The Kerry game in the final when we underperformed and only 2 subs were made, added to so many regulars being dropped started this problem.

Guys who had played well, while fair enough getting dropped for an All Ireland finalist was fine at least expected to be brought on as the game v Kerry was going against us. Only using 2 subs that day after making so many changes was the start of the problem. Meyler has a lot to answer re that game.

Since then a few players left the panel, others have "relaxed" a bit too much. Last week we had a challenge v Tipp 21s and struggled to field a team.

Terrible to see what looked like a very promising year turn into this mess. Next week we have Antrim at home. Win that and hopefully we might recover. Lose that and it will all fall apart, and we could well end up in Christy Ring next season.

Only bright spot of the weekend was our minors beating Kildare in newbridge, scoring 1-22. Play Kilkenny in Quarters next.

rebel girl 15 · 27-04-2014 10:07pm

Carlow were three and four points down for a lot of the second half, I was getting updates on Twitter, any time Carlow scored, London did again to keep the gap - I didn't go into Ruislip for it because of the Munster game.

Its disappointing to hear that things are getting worse rather than better

TaosHum · 28-04-2014 3:17pm

Stevecw wrote: »

Shocking bad result for Carlow in London today. Pulling off a lucky draw is very disappointing.
So much has gone wrong the last few weeks, with training, guys dropping off etc and today was the result of all that.

The Kerry game in the final when we underperformed and only 2 subs were made, added to so many regulars being dropped started this problem.

Guys who had played well, while fair enough getting dropped for an All Ireland finalist was fine at least expected to be brought on as the game v Kerry was going against us. Only using 2 subs that day after making so many changes was the start of the problem. Meyler has a lot to answer re that game.

Since then a few players left the panel, others have "relaxed" a bit too much. Last week we had a challenge v Tipp 21s and struggled to field a team.

Terrible to see what looked like a very promising year turn into this mess. Next week we have Antrim at home. Win that and hopefully we might recover. Lose that and it will all fall apart, and we could well end up in Christy Ring next season.

Only bright spot of the weekend was our minors beating Kildare in newbridge, scoring 1-22. Play Kilkenny in Quarters next.

Only game I can see them winning now is against Westmeath. I hope there will be some kind of reaction against Antrim, but I don't expect them to beat them. Laois should win by at least 10 points against Carlow.

As you said, such a shame they have been unable to build on there good start to the league and MLR's run to the All-Ireland.

grattanspuds · 28-04-2014 5:34pm

TaosHum wrote: »

Only game I can see them winning now is against Westmeath. I hope there will be some kind of reaction against Antrim, but I don't expect them to beat them. Laois should win by at least 10 points against Carlow.

As you said, such a shame they have been unable to build on there good start to the league and MLR's run to the All-Ireland.

Surely there will be a backlash from them next week? Plus, Antrim aren't great travellers - from the outside looking in, I'd give Carlow a fighting chance

TaosHum · 05-05-2014 1:31pm

Well, any hopes of getting through to the knock out stages of the LSHC have all but gone with that loss yesterday against Antrim. To be fair to Antrim, they had that bit of class in the forwards to keep the scoreboard ticking over, but Carlow didn't help themselves.

I think something like 2-5 of Antrim's scores were avoidable. Between the keeper and the backs they made some awful errors (poor puck outs, dropping the ball under no pressure, passing it straight to the opposition) and at this level got punished. That was the difference between the two sides. Carlow gifted Antrim scores while Carlow had to work for theirs. To the forwards credit, they played well, especially Mary Kavanagh. His brother Jack in midfield also did well.

I wasn't overally impressed with Meyler yesterday. He deployed a sweeper-esque system in bringing the full-forward out around midfield, which unfortunately didn't mean more possession. This in turn led to many balls being played into the full forward line getting mopped up by the spare full back. Also, Sean Murphy not even getting a game was a poor call (unless he was injured). I would also liked to have seen Conor Lawler get a run as he has the speed to run at defenders, along with Murphy.

[Deleted User] · 05-05-2014 7:42pm

TaosHum wrote: »

Well, any hopes of getting through to the knock out stages of the LSHC have all but gone with that loss yesterday against Antrim. To be fair to Antrim, they had that bit of class in the forwards to keep the scoreboard ticking over, but Carlow didn't help themselves.

I think something like 2-5 of Antrim's scores were avoidable. Between the keeper and the backs they made some awful errors (poor puck outs, dropping the ball under no pressure, passing it straight to the opposition) and at this level got punished. That was the difference between the two sides. Carlow gifted Antrim scores while Carlow had to work for theirs. To the forwards credit, they played well, especially Mary Kavanagh. His brother Jack in midfield also did well.

I wasn't overally impressed with Meyler yesterday. He deployed a sweeper-esque system in bringing the full-forward out around midfield, which unfortunately didn't mean more possession. This in turn led to many balls being played into the full forward line getting mopped up by the spare full back. Also, Sean Murphy not even getting a game was a poor call (unless he was injured). I would also liked to have seen Conor Lawler get a run as he has the speed to run at defenders, along with Murphy.

To be fair, Antrim are at Div 1b pace whilst Carlow were at 2A so to come as close as ye did is not bad given the current circumstances. given that they have the experience of playing Cork and Limerick its no mean feat tbh.

Is Conor Lawlor a dual player? I know of one playing football for the IT.

Id agree re the sweeper issue. Coaches seems to be terrified of letting in a raft of scores within a small time span so seem to use this tactic. Its a sticky plaster over a gaping wound. The bigger issue should be to equip your team with the emphasis of willingness to battle hard and turnover more possession. Battling players are all too often overlooked in hurling. The midfield also need to be better to read the game. They could be needed to help out in the rucks in the 40 or their own half backline. There is no point having extra reinforcement to win a ball in the middle if you have no one on the edge of the square to aim at.

TaosHum · 05-05-2014 9:14pm

tipp_Gunner wrote: »

To be fair, Antrim are at Div 1b pace whilst Carlow were at 2A so to come as close as ye did is not bad given the current circumstances. given that they have the experience of playing Cork and Limerick its no mean feat tbh.

Is Conor Lawlor a dual player? I know of one playing football for the IT.

Id agree re the sweeper issue. Coaches seems to be terrified of letting in a raft of scores within a small time span so seem to use this tactic. Its a sticky plaster over a gaping wound. The bigger issue should be to equip your team with the emphasis of willingness to battle hard and turnover more possession. Battling players are all too often overlooked in hurling. The midfield also need to be better to read the game. They could be needed to help out in the rucks in the 40 or their own half backline. There is no point having extra reinforcement to win a ball in the middle if you have no one on the edge of the square to aim at.

I understand that Antrim are playing 1B Hurling, but the only difference between the two sides were the mistakes made in the Carlow backline. Carlow genuinely gave up at least 2-5 of very avoidable scores. But I suppose that's part of the difference in quality. Antrim weren't making those critical errors while they were able to punish Carlow at the same time.

Yeah, Lawlor also plays football for Palatine. Very pacy player who could have caused problems with his speed.

Totally agree on the sweeper system. It only works if the extra player is winning a good portion of ball in the middle and you have the forwards capable of running at the opposition.

Stevecw · 07-05-2014 8:08pm

Bad weekend for Carlow hurling, no surprise there. Lots of problems there now.

More worrying is the state of football here, am at the minor match here in dcp. Longford 3-8, Carlow 1-1 at ht. Its humiliating, worse is there's more Longford people here than Carlow it seems. Sorry for bad text, not used to writing here off phone.

Stevecw · 07-05-2014 8:54pm

3-13 to 2-6 in the end. Better show in 2nd half, but was so easy for an average looking Longford side.

TaosHum · 08-05-2014 10:29am

Yeah, a predictable outcome for the Carlow minors. The hurlers however are out this weekend against Kilkenny at 2 in DCP.

Looking forward to this as Kilkenny are coming off a beating from the Dubs.

grattanspuds · 11-05-2014 12:19am

Is it possible for Carlow to tighten up defensively tomorrow v Laois? They obviously conceded big scores v London and Antrim but Laois play quite a cagey game and seem to struggle against teams they have to go out and open up a bit against, so if Carlow can cut down on the scores conceded surely they have their chances tomorrow?

[Deleted User] · 11-05-2014 9:21pm

Judging by the minor and senior scores i think ye could be suffering from lack of experience. Laois are having a good year at Senior and its no coincidence that the two teams with 1b experience are advancing. I think your schools need to gain experience at Leinster A schools level in order to help your minor team.

Perhaps a combo team in the A competition could help ala the same plan as Waterford and Dublin have implemented and look at how it has benefited them. It would give yere lads games against the likes of St Kierans, and KK CBS.

The effort Carlow and Laois are making while greatly under resourced is commendable and i would hope that it would be recognised. In order to to have any chance of being fully competitive they need assistance from Central HQ.

On top of that i think Carlow, Westmeath and Kerry, etc should be allowed take part in the All Ireland intermediate championship this year should they choose to in order to give them more competitive games and continue the summer for them after all of their hard work during the year.

Stevecw · 12-05-2014 6:21pm

Another bad weekend for Carlow hurling. The minors were totally outclassed on Saturday by what looks to me like a very good Kilkenny side. Hard to imagine they only scored 3 points v Dubs. All a bit strange, and don't be surprised to see them involved in business end of championship at all.

Seniors yesterday was a hard watch. Went over to Portlaoise not expecting much, but it was so much worse than I thought. Laois didn't play well at all and still hammered us.

Was no plan whatsoever, for the 2nd week in a row when behind we hit aimless balls into the forward line where we had 1 forward at times v 3 backs. The short passing game in defence killed us last week and was no help this week either.

We looked slow, lacking basic skills, hitting stupid wides. It really has gone badly downhill in last few weeks. Looks like a very unhappy camp, and we are heading for Christy Ring I'd say at this rate. Westmeath will fancy their chances on Sunday against us & rightly so.

Sad to see it fall apart so badly, when we all expected a good year with the MLR run & rest of panel winning easily without them.

TaosHum · 13-05-2014 9:55am

Has been a sorry ending to a year that promised so much for the Hurlers. I think Meyler's position is quite tentative at the moment and a loss to Westmeath would be the writing on the wall for him.

LeoB · 13-05-2014 11:02pm

TaosHum wrote: »

Has been a sorry ending to a year that promised so much for the Hurlers. I think Meyler's position is quite tentative at the moment and a loss to Westmeath would be the writing on the wall for him.

Is that the answer? Get rid of Meyler. He is a top class coach but like in a lot of counties struggling to make an impact the problems are much more deep rooted than their senior inter county team.

I agree with Tipp gunner above, work on getting a team into "A" Collages hurling. It had made some difference to Dublin. But Dublin had a plan in place about 15-20 years ago to develop juvenile hurling and thats how long it has taken. .

I have seen Dublin take some right hidings over the years but the focus was never taken away from developing and growing the juvenile side of the game.

pmy.murphy · 14-05-2014 1:08am

An out and out Kilkenny man here but who has links to Carlow through Family and would follow their games closely. As someone mentioned previously, I dont think its any surprise to see Laois and Antrim getting out of the group both with Division 1B experience but its a stupid system that teams like Carlow now will be finished for the year and we are only in mid May whilst counties like my own havent even played yet or the Sunday Game hasnt started but yet Carlow are out of the Championship before all that. Firstly at least three teams should be given the opportunity to get out of the group instead of favouring the likes of Laois/Antrim even if the team who comes third was to go straight into the qualifiers for example with the bottom two playing off, the winner of that also going into the qualifers and the loser going back to the Christy Ring which would start in the coming weeks giving the county a chance to get back to Liam McCarthy the following year. But what I find the most disgraceful is how the GAA are moving the goalposts every year with regards the weaker counties and preventing counties like Carlow who have a lot of potential the chance to improve and play against the top teams. We saw that with the structure of Division 2A this year which frankly I found disgraceful that Kerry were forced to play Offaly. Carlow played Division 1B last year and were far from embarassed in any of their games giving a good account of themselves which subsequently translated into the Championship with a narrow defeat to Wexford. Especially with the progress MLR have made Carlow are being treated like sh*te frankly by the GAA. The way I see it is teams who are capable of competing should be allowed to compete but the GAA should hang their heads in shame at this round robin system and treatment of the weaker counties in general.

TaosHum · 14-05-2014 6:17pm

LeoB wrote: »

Is that the answer? Get rid of Meyler. He is a top class coach but like in a lot of counties struggling to make an impact the problems are much more deep rooted than their senior inter county team.

I agree with Tipp gunner above, work on getting a team into "A" Collages hurling. It had made some difference to Dublin. But Dublin had a plan in place about 15-20 years ago to develop juvenile hurling and thats how long it has taken. .

I have seen Dublin take some right hidings over the years but the focus was never taken away from developing and growing the juvenile side of the game.

Meyler has to take responsibility for what is happening on the field and how the team is preparing. Over the past few months there has been growing disharmony in the squad, which has led to players leaving. The team has regressed since the beginning of the league and this is with the MLR players coming back. His tactics have also come into question since the Championships begun, playing a sweeper system which has resulted in many aimless balls being played into a 1/2 man full forward line.

At the beginning of the year, after Carlow had been demoted to Division 2A, the goal was to prove to the GAA they had been unfairly treated. Winning 2A and being competitive in the Championship was where the county wanted to be. However, they failed to win 2A and could very well be playing Christy Ring hurling next year.

And this is all on the back of a good showing in the league/Championship last year and MLR winning a Leinster title. As someone who goes to every game he can, this team has seriously regressed in the past few months. Meyler has to take responsibility for that. If he loses his position, then it will be because of the reasons above, it won't be just for the sake of it.

TBF, last year the u21's went to Parnell Park and beat Dublin last year, the Minors have won two SHL titles in a row and MLR have won a Leinster title, so there is serious development taking place in Carlow Hurling. Borris Vocational School also compete in the Leinster SH A Champioship. There is certainly room for more improvement and it will need to happen if Carlow ever want to compete with the top sides, but you have to take into consideration what has happened in a short space of time in what was a football county.

pmy.murphy · 14-05-2014 6:23pm

TaosHum wrote: »

Meyler has to take responsibility for what is happening on the field and how the team is preparing. Over the past few months there has been growing disharmony in the squad, which has led to players leaving. The team has regressed since the beginning of the league and this is with the MLR players coming back. His tactics have also come into question since the Championships begun, playing a sweeper system which has resulted in many aimless balls being played into a 1/2 man full forward line.

At the beginning of the year, after Carlow had been demoted to Division 2A, the goal was to prove to the GAA they had been unfairly treated. Winning 2A and being competitive in the Championship was where the county wanted to be. However, they failed to win 2A and could very well be playing Christy Ring hurling next year.

And this is all on the back of a good showing in the league/Championship last year and MLR winning a Leinster title. As someone who goes to every game he can, this team has seriously regressed in the past few months. Meyler has to take responsibility for that. If he loses his position, then it will be because of the reasons above, it won't be just for the sake of it.

TBF, last year the u21's went to Parnell Park and beat Dublin last year, the Minors have won two SHL titles in a row and MLR have won a Leinster title, so there is serious development taking place in Carlow Hurling. Borris Vocational School also compete in the Leinster SH A Champioship. There is certainly room for more improvement and it will need to happen if Carlow ever want to compete with the top sides, but you have to take into consideration what has happened in a short space of time in what was a football county.

Who else has left the squad apart from the likes of Frank Foley, Edward Coady?

TaosHum · 15-05-2014 12:39pm

pmy.murphy wrote: »

Who else has left the squad apart from the likes of Frank Foley, Edward Coady?

I'd rather not be throwing out names on a public forum, incase they wish to come back in the future. I can PM you if you like.

Overall, although I've not been impressed with Meyler and his tactics over the last few games, if Carlow can maintain a SHC place for next year I'd be content enough to see him continue.

Players also have to answer for the poor performances. Can't be all on the manager either.

Stevecw · 17-05-2014 3:04pm

Massive game for us tomorrow, and I fear the worst. Morale in the camp is at a serious low and even if somehow we do scrape a win tomorrow I think Meyler will pack it in.

His tactics are killing us, and this 1 man full forward line is a joke. Slow to make the right changes too, overall his tenure hasn't been great. Bar the Wexford game in the qualifiers last summer, we have underperformed. I won't be sorry to see him go.

Saying that, the reaction of certain players once the MLR guys came back in wasn't right. The fact that some have been playing Kilkenny league games the evening before championship games is seriously bad form too.

It's a mess right now, and added to that the expenses not being paid etc, I'd be surprised if we do get the win tomorrow. It will paper over the cracks for now.

feargale · 18-05-2014 4:19pm

Please, can anybody give us a running commentary on Carlow v. Westmeath. Anyone have access to local radio?

TaosHum · 18-05-2014 10:05pm

Big win today. Had to fight hard after conceding an early goal and been reduced to 14 men.

Now hoping for a Westmeath win next week vs London to ensure another year in the LSHC.

[Deleted User] · 18-05-2014 10:53pm

TaosHum wrote: »

Big win today. Had to fight hard after conceding an early goal and been reduced to 14 men.

Now hoping for a Westmeath win next week vs London to ensure another year in the LSHC.

Fair play lads well done. Hoping ye'll stay in the LMc. Keeping knocking at the door and hopefully ye'll get an answer.

[Deleted User] · 04-06-2014 11:56pm

Bad defeat for your u21 hurlers in Mullingar tonight folks.

pmy.murphy · 05-06-2014 12:49am

That was a very good Westmeath team. Would not surprise me one bit if they go on to win leinster. Westmeath would certainly have beaten my own county Kilkenny tonight and hammered them at that. Our u21 team is just a shambles

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