As the championship looms, John Meyler still rues Carlow's luckless league campaign.

The Barrowsiders - who face London in the Leinter SHC opener at Dr Cullen Park tomorrow afternoon - were relegated to Division 2A after giving as good as they got in most of their outings in Division 1B:

"We worked hard and were very competitive, if not successful," the Wexford native says in The Irish Times.

"Did we deserve to stay up? On the basis of competitiveness: yes. On the basis of results: no. But if we were able to have another crack at it next year we'd have learned from the experience."

Meyler compares Carlow's current situation to that of the Kerry team he managed all of 20 years ago: "We beat Waterford in '93 and got to a league quarter-final. We were in Division One and beat Clare in Tralee when they were All-Ireland champions but we were relegated at the end of the year.

"I remember saying to [then Kerry chairman] Sean Kelly: it would be great if they could leave us there for another year so that we could progress a bit more.

"If Carlow could play in 1B again next year we'd be able to take on Limerick and Wexford in Dr Cullen Park. We only lost by three in Limerick and people might say it was February hurling but we were gutted afterwards." Tweet

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