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Carlow GAA thread

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Replying To carlowman:  "I suppose Carlow is a football county.... and hurling has always had to play second fiddle to it. Football has the votes in the county yet this year for once, hurling got to play first and did not have to squeeze a huge number of games into a small slot as happened for many years with teams playing up to 3 championship games in 10 days...
There is no perfect solution. Were Rathvilly happy to have one week before their championship match at Leinster level ?
Perhaps one factor in Eire Ogs defeat was that they had one eye on that Leinster club game and took the other eye off the ball as well ?
Clubs in both codes now invariably demand so much from players that they find themselves having to drop one code and often they do this at a very early age.
Is that the way we should be going in this county... are development squads reinforcing that 'one code' philosophy ?
The Loughmore Castleiney experience should start a new debate, as they succeeded in keeping their players fresh with 13 hurlers on their football team and they won both football and hurling deciders in a very competitive county. And they went to ET last weekend as well in Mumstr club football!!!!
We do need a total rethink regarding how we can ensure that players are helped to play both codes in this county rather than talking about what code should play first .
Let's see.what happens next year with the club football and hurling championships!!! It will be very interesting!
I know some football clubs were not happy to be playing championship when they did this year..
And with all of this we have to factor in the county matches ! Not easy for officials at the helm !"
# carlowman. - - Rathvilly beat Eire Og well and truly on the day, with the greatest of respect Eire Og simply had no answer to Rathvilly's dominance over the 70 mins, Rathvillys job was to stop E / O winning 5 in a row, it's my firm belief if that game went to a replay Rathvilly would come come away as county champions, I will admit that next year may be a very different story, Eire Og have been around the block too many times not to have both eyes firmly fixed on the final and 5 in a row

We have discussed here Carlow's woes and wonders in gaelic games in hurling and football year after year and we're still in div.4.

Just a couple of pointers. - - - Carlow plays both codes by choice and the rewards for this are what they are and very unlikely to change for the better, in fact all counties play both codes with the exception of Kilkenny.

There are counties in all 4 provinces' that will never ever win any serious silverware or compete in an all Ireland final, football or hurling, in fact the vast majority will never get a nomination for an all star of any kind let alone win one
There are quiet a few counties that would consider themselves very lucky to see their games let it be in hurling or football televised live on our national broadcaster or for that matter broadcast live on our national radio.

RTE doesn't support all counties; rather it lends its support to the chosen few, likewise the media, tabloid or broadsheet, RTE I'm afraid are too political etc,etc. it need's radical change, ie, off load and reinvent

The GAA is now a multi-functional organisation, it's gone from an amateur organisation to semi-professional, to professional, it has gone from playing our national games on home soil to playing multinational games on home soil, all valid by the way let it be said, the association then decided to promote and stage international mega stars to sell out concerts and millions of euros will change hands, I think this is all good business by the way, but at the same time the less fortunate counties are left to fend for themselves, or so it seems.

Financial support for the counties that need it most will not be enough, unless the work starts first at levelling the playing field, however at this stage even that project may be too late.

supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 2907 - 12/12/2021 13:28:17    2392542

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Replying To supersub15:  "# carlowman. - - Rathvilly beat Eire Og well and truly on the day, with the greatest of respect Eire Og simply had no answer to Rathvilly's dominance over the 70 mins, Rathvillys job was to stop E / O winning 5 in a row, it's my firm belief if that game went to a replay Rathvilly would come come away as county champions, I will admit that next year may be a very different story, Eire Og have been around the block too many times not to have both eyes firmly fixed on the final and 5 in a row

We have discussed here Carlow's woes and wonders in gaelic games in hurling and football year after year and we're still in div.4.

Just a couple of pointers. - - - Carlow plays both codes by choice and the rewards for this are what they are and very unlikely to change for the better, in fact all counties play both codes with the exception of Kilkenny.

There are counties in all 4 provinces' that will never ever win any serious silverware or compete in an all Ireland final, football or hurling, in fact the vast majority will never get a nomination for an all star of any kind let alone win one
There are quiet a few counties that would consider themselves very lucky to see their games let it be in hurling or football televised live on our national broadcaster or for that matter broadcast live on our national radio.

RTE doesn't support all counties; rather it lends its support to the chosen few, likewise the media, tabloid or broadsheet, RTE I'm afraid are too political etc,etc. it need's radical change, ie, off load and reinvent

The GAA is now a multi-functional organisation, it's gone from an amateur organisation to semi-professional, to professional, it has gone from playing our national games on home soil to playing multinational games on home soil, all valid by the way let it be said, the association then decided to promote and stage international mega stars to sell out concerts and millions of euros will change hands, I think this is all good business by the way, but at the same time the less fortunate counties are left to fend for themselves, or so it seems.

Financial support for the counties that need it most will not be enough, unless the work starts first at levelling the playing field, however at this stage even that project may be too late."
Your first paragraph proves my point... Carlow is basically a football county... you talk about div 4 and not getting out of it ! Hurling ??
Your point on Rathvilly is well made, no problem at all with that but I do think EO took their eye off the ball. Yes Rathvilly had more hunger and were fully deserving winners on the day. Agree that next year will be different.
Carlow is division 4 and the media broadsheet in particular gives it a tiny paragraph on Monday. That has and will not change.
As for RTE being political - where is that coming from?
RTE is the national broadcaster, and in fairness it had Clough Ballacola on TV last night !
It has had 2 club games on each weekend in recent weeks. Saying it is political infers bias and as the national broadcaster it has responsibilities and will broadcast games that will attract public interest.
Regarding coverage, surely covid has shown the way forward, ie local games being shown by local companies. That is the key way to have games broadcast if that is needed and regarded as key to development.
Carlow is not going to get national coverage when it's footballers have continued to not perform and have again regressed after just one year out of div 4 and are back where to be honest they belong.

The hurlers get coverage as they have competed in Liam McCarthy and have gotten to div league finals and Joe Mcdonagh.
As for levelling the playing field... why would the GAA do that... why should they in any form decide to give more monies to one rather than another county ? Surely its up to each county to generate its own revenue ?
Carlow gets more than a fair share of monies from Croke Park or from Central funds that keeps the county afloat. The monies it gets far outstrips the monies it generates at the gates around the county.
And let's be honest will money make any difference ?
Looking at our county, how much and where exactly is the money being spent? Is it management ? How much does.managment actually get ?
As far as I can see very little is being given to clubs. Yes, clubs have the benefit of coaches at county level and they promote the game in primary schools and are directly involved with development squads. Outside of that, monies for club development is not too forthcoming.
It seems that this is up to clubs themselves.
Similarly, it is the same with county development, it is up to the counties themselves to generate monies.
But what is the future... how should Carlow move forward... how can it develop the games... how can we develop both hurling and football... how can we have more.kids.playimg both sports... how can we ensure that we don't lose so many players after 15 years of age...these questions have been asked and Carlow has not responded. We have not developed and implemented a coherent strategy that is building for the future.
I recently had a look at a 5 year plan that was lauded back at the time quite a number years ago. Practically NOTHING from it has been put in place. There has been no checks or yearly monitoring of the targets set down.
In fact Carlow has rowed back on these plans.
To be honest, I am very concerned at how 'development' is being planned.

carlowman (Carlow) - Posts: 1821 - 12/12/2021 17:30:52    2392581

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Replying To carlowman:  "Your first paragraph proves my point... Carlow is basically a football county... you talk about div 4 and not getting out of it ! Hurling ??
Your point on Rathvilly is well made, no problem at all with that but I do think EO took their eye off the ball. Yes Rathvilly had more hunger and were fully deserving winners on the day. Agree that next year will be different.
Carlow is division 4 and the media broadsheet in particular gives it a tiny paragraph on Monday. That has and will not change.
As for RTE being political - where is that coming from?
RTE is the national broadcaster, and in fairness it had Clough Ballacola on TV last night !
It has had 2 club games on each weekend in recent weeks. Saying it is political infers bias and as the national broadcaster it has responsibilities and will broadcast games that will attract public interest.
Regarding coverage, surely covid has shown the way forward, ie local games being shown by local companies. That is the key way to have games broadcast if that is needed and regarded as key to development.
Carlow is not going to get national coverage when it's footballers have continued to not perform and have again regressed after just one year out of div 4 and are back where to be honest they belong.

The hurlers get coverage as they have competed in Liam McCarthy and have gotten to div league finals and Joe Mcdonagh.
As for levelling the playing field... why would the GAA do that... why should they in any form decide to give more monies to one rather than another county ? Surely its up to each county to generate its own revenue ?
Carlow gets more than a fair share of monies from Croke Park or from Central funds that keeps the county afloat. The monies it gets far outstrips the monies it generates at the gates around the county.
And let's be honest will money make any difference ?
Looking at our county, how much and where exactly is the money being spent? Is it management ? How much does.managment actually get ?
As far as I can see very little is being given to clubs. Yes, clubs have the benefit of coaches at county level and they promote the game in primary schools and are directly involved with development squads. Outside of that, monies for club development is not too forthcoming.
It seems that this is up to clubs themselves.
Similarly, it is the same with county development, it is up to the counties themselves to generate monies.
But what is the future... how should Carlow move forward... how can it develop the games... how can we develop both hurling and football... how can we have more.kids.playimg both sports... how can we ensure that we don't lose so many players after 15 years of age...these questions have been asked and Carlow has not responded. We have not developed and implemented a coherent strategy that is building for the future.
I recently had a look at a 5 year plan that was lauded back at the time quite a number years ago. Practically NOTHING from it has been put in place. There has been no checks or yearly monitoring of the targets set down.
In fact Carlow has rowed back on these plans.
To be honest, I am very concerned at how 'development' is being planned."
The sporting balance is in favour gaelic football within the county agreed, however Rathvilly is almost a standalone club north of the county close coupled to Wicklow and Kildare who have almost done the impossible (this year in particular) and got crowned Carlow senior football champions 2021, it would appear that some of the lads have been playing with

Ra'villy for the past 20 odd years and still defies sporting logic,
Carlow hurlers is picked from a few clubs nestled in a couple of square kilometres south of the county, arguably it could be asked did Carlow football clubs stop Carlow hurlers from progressing, ??
RTE and being political, - they answer a question by asking another, so you never get an answer, and yes they are bias, very much bias, all counties in div.4 should get the same level of recognition in match preview and post-match analysis, clearly this does not happen.

Yes, covid has shown the way forward and that is the way to go, ie local games to be shown by local companies.
Liam Mc Carthy. So from now on our hurlers will be denied coverage until they compete in the Liam Mc Carthy cup again.

"Carlow gets more than a fair share of monies from Croke Park or from Central funds," - I would argue that point, I would say they get an amount, who knows how much.?
Looking at our county, how much and where exactly is the money being spent? Is it management ? How much does.managment actually get ?
As far as I can see very little is being given to clubs. Yes, clubs have the benefit of coaches at county level and they promote the game in primary schools and are directly involved with development squads. Outside of that, monies for club development is not too forthcoming.
It seems that this is up to clubs themselves."

Agree with that.

"But what is the future... how should Carlow move forward... how can it develop the games... how can we develop both hurling and football... how can we have more.kids.playimg both sports... how can we ensure that we don't lose so many players after 15 years of age...these questions have been asked and Carlow has not responded. We have not developed and implemented a coherent strategy that is building for the future.
I recently had a look at a 5 year plan that was lauded back at the time quite a number years ago. Practically NOTHING from it has been put in place. There has been no checks or yearly monitoring of the targets set down.
In fact Carlow has rowed back on these plans.
To be honest, I am very concerned at how 'development' is being planned"


A formula must be found to level the playing field, make our games more attractive to younger age groups, the Media including RTE must play its part, Croke Park at the highest level must become aware that there are 8 div. 4 counties and others queuing up waiting to get in..

supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 2907 - 12/12/2021 21:47:58    2392621

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Merry Xmas to all 9 inclusive posters here on the Carlow gaa thread.
Good health to all.

supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 2907 - 15/12/2021 16:50:59    2392947

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Haooy Christmas to all ! Let's hope for better fortunes in the year ahead in every way !

carlowman (Carlow) - Posts: 1821 - 16/12/2021 15:29:36    2393030

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Any ideas or views on new football panel . I am sure it's transition time with Broderick, Redmond retired and i am sure there will be a few more hanging up the boots like Brendan Murtagh and Darragh Foley
I wonder will Sean Murphy be part of set up
I envisage a difficult league campaign with the Division being very competitive.
Part of me rightly or wrongly woild like to see Poacher back at some stage. He has not really trived since leaving us

Blackbog (Carlow) - Posts: 704 - 16/12/2021 20:41:51    2393051

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Replying To Blackbog:  "Any ideas or views on new football panel . I am sure it's transition time with Broderick, Redmond retired and i am sure there will be a few more hanging up the boots like Brendan Murtagh and Darragh Foley
I wonder will Sean Murphy be part of set up
I envisage a difficult league campaign with the Division being very competitive.
Part of me rightly or wrongly woild like to see Poacher back at some stage. He has not really trived since leaving us"
Blackbog, you are correct when you say you envisage a difficult league campaign with the Division being very competitive, but in fairness that applies to Carlow's involvement in the nfl every year. I,m sure all the stops will be pulled out to discourage any more lads from retiring, we'll wait and see.

Can't see Poacher coming back so we may as well get on with it.

Football in all 4 provinces is at a cross roads, it can go anyway so for 2022 this is the way I think it will go.
Connaught. - - - Galway or Roscommon.
Munster. - - - Cork or Kerry.
Ulster. - - - Armagh or Derry.
Leinster. - - - Kildare .or Offaly.

I hope to see Carlow making visual progress in the nfl, hopefully there will be no restrictions,

Dublin has reached it's sell by date, all other counties are challengers including Carlow for LSFC, for now Kildare and Offaly are the serious challengers.

Cork will seriously challenge any county in munster for the title

Armagh or Derry are very capable of winning out in Ulster.

Mayo has to reinvent itself and rid itself of the monkey on it's back, so it's Galway or Roscommon for Connaught.

supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 2907 - 17/12/2021 11:27:57    2393077

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Replying To supersub15:  "Blackbog, you are correct when you say you envisage a difficult league campaign with the Division being very competitive, but in fairness that applies to Carlow's involvement in the nfl every year. I,m sure all the stops will be pulled out to discourage any more lads from retiring, we'll wait and see.

Can't see Poacher coming back so we may as well get on with it.

Football in all 4 provinces is at a cross roads, it can go anyway so for 2022 this is the way I think it will go.
Connaught. - - - Galway or Roscommon.
Munster. - - - Cork or Kerry.
Ulster. - - - Armagh or Derry.
Leinster. - - - Kildare .or Offaly.

I hope to see Carlow making visual progress in the nfl, hopefully there will be no restrictions,

Dublin has reached it's sell by date, all other counties are challengers including Carlow for LSFC, for now Kildare and Offaly are the serious challengers.

Cork will seriously challenge any county in munster for the title

Armagh or Derry are very capable of winning out in Ulster.

Mayo has to reinvent itself and rid itself of the monkey on it's back, so it's Galway or Roscommon for Connaught."
Good post
I think the Poacher thing is just wishful thinking
I suppose in summary Turlough and himself had an approach that made Carlow competitive
But they also had an nucleus of the carlow minors and u 21s that could have won Leinster.
Poacher when leaving said there was not c9ming through in terms of serious talent and there is truth in that. The Carlow team of 2017 / 18 had players with serious talent who are now nearing their end or retired
I think Carew is a good manager but you need to have something else to get Carlow rising that we had that
Turlough got the club's behind the county and the best players playing and Poacher fought them to believe and play to a system.
Anyway we will continue to support our county wherever it leads us.
I have followed Carlow since i first saw them play Laois in Athy in early 60s and most definitely my best day out with as a Carlow supporter was against the Flour bags in Tullamore in 2018. It was almost perfection

Blackbog (Carlow) - Posts: 704 - 17/12/2021 16:36:21    2393106

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Replying To Blackbog:  "Any ideas or views on new football panel . I am sure it's transition time with Broderick, Redmond retired and i am sure there will be a few more hanging up the boots like Brendan Murtagh and Darragh Foley
I wonder will Sean Murphy be part of set up
I envisage a difficult league campaign with the Division being very competitive.
Part of me rightly or wrongly woild like to see Poacher back at some stage. He has not really trived since leaving us"
I'm worried for the next few years to be honest. Can't see Brendan coming back and a lot of the experienced players are gone.
Wouldn't be surprised to see Sean Murphy in with the hurlers next year as they will be the stronger squad.

carlovia (None) - Posts: 1517 - 17/12/2021 19:44:44    2393119

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Do we have any news on Football and Hurling squads as yet.
Tough start for us with Kildare and Westmeath waiting
I think in terms of Div 4 I predict
Cavan 14 points
Wexford 11
Tipperary 10
Sligo 10
Carlow 7
Leitrim 4
Waterford 2
London 0

Lets seechow close I get

Blackbog (Carlow) - Posts: 704 - 04/01/2022 19:29:42    2393603

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Replying To Blackbog:  "Do we have any news on Football and Hurling squads as yet.
Tough start for us with Kildare and Westmeath waiting
I think in terms of Div 4 I predict
Cavan 14 points
Wexford 11
Tipperary 10
Sligo 10
Carlow 7
Leitrim 4
Waterford 2
London 0

Lets seechow close I get"
I think 7 points is being optimistic.

TaosHum (Carlow) - Posts: 236 - 05/01/2022 12:59:38    2393664

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. Cavan 10
. Tipp. 10
. Sligo 8
.Wexford 7
Leitrim 6
Waterford. 5
Carlow . 5
London. 1

Div.4 Is the most unpredictable of all divisions.

supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 2907 - 05/01/2022 13:51:26    2393681

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Looking forward to the O'Byrne cup games. Any thoughts/news on team selection or how do we think we will do?

Ceatharlach15 (Carlow) - Posts: 7 - 11/01/2022 14:33:04    2394531

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Replying To Ceatharlach15:  "Looking forward to the O'Byrne cup games. Any thoughts/news on team selection or how do we think we will do?"
I think we will struggle against both Westmeath and Kildare .
My feeling is we have arrived back to pre 2018 and pre Rising
Lots of players left the panel or close to retirement we have some good footballers but I don't think the where it all is There to make any impact
I hope I am wrong. But the side that is now dismantled had pedigree under age. We don't have that anymore
I think Kildare will wallop us tomorrow night and Westmeath will also beat us with points to spare
I hope I am so wrong . I just dont feel it at the moment
Happy to be proved wrong

Blackbog (Carlow) - Posts: 704 - 11/01/2022 20:02:59    2394566

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Give the man 5 years, and he'll surely go down as Laois' greatest ever footballer!

Btw, posting here since there's no Laois thread, and you guys are good neighbors. Actually, Carlow and Laois joined could be a fine football team. Laolow could be an apt name for ye.

https://www.sportsjoe.ie/gaa/wonderful-story-first-nigerian-play-laois-246298?fbclid=IwAR3sVNYNl5gtkY2AA9n2wk939a5xk9mzFTK2OPxXLuW3UmkpVDdTyGKvlj0

foreveryoung (USA) - Posts: 1910 - 12/01/2022 13:32:10    2394621

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Replying To foreveryoung:  "Give the man 5 years, and he'll surely go down as Laois' greatest ever footballer!

Btw, posting here since there's no Laois thread, and you guys are good neighbors. Actually, Carlow and Laois joined could be a fine football team. Laolow could be an apt name for ye.

https://www.sportsjoe.ie/gaa/wonderful-story-first-nigerian-play-laois-246298?fbclid=IwAR3sVNYNl5gtkY2AA9n2wk939a5xk9mzFTK2OPxXLuW3UmkpVDdTyGKvlj0"
Laois and Carlow as one.
I would prefer to languish in low level mediocrity than loose our identity to that lot.
They already have West Carlow Town ( graiguecullen).

Blackbog (Carlow) - Posts: 704 - 12/01/2022 13:59:59    2394627

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Replying To Blackbog:  "Do we have any news on Football and Hurling squads as yet.
Tough start for us with Kildare and Westmeath waiting
I think in terms of Div 4 I predict
Cavan 14 points
Wexford 11
Tipperary 10
Sligo 10
Carlow 7
Leitrim 4
Waterford 2
London 0

Lets seechow close I get"
The thing is Blackbog (Carlow) the top 4 counties in the leinster senior football championship is Dublin, Kildare Westmeath and Offaly and the winner will more than likely come from one of those 4.

The top 4 counties in the NFL Div.4 is probably Tipperary, Cavan, Wexford and Sligo, 2 out of those 4 counties like Tipp and Cavan are the most likely to top the div. and get promoted.

So now we have Waterford, Leitrim, Carlow and London.
Waterford has Jim Mc Guinness as their performance coach, so Waterford is going to make a positive impression on the league and take a few points you can be sure of that.
If Waterford has Jim Mc Guinness then Leitrim has Andy Moran while Andy may be new to management he is not out of his depth, he has serious experience at the highest level as a player under good managers, Andy will have Leitrim in good shape, perhaps even very good shape.

I'm living and settled out of Carlow for a few years now so I'm not in the loop to know the smaller things that may be going on in the home county, however Niall Carew is a decent man doing a difficult job and he doesn't have the luxury of bringing in a performance coach like Jim Mc Guinness to help him out, however I have read where Ronan Joyce has replaced Ger Brennan as team coach.

London will be happy to put up a challenging performance as they can do, who knows what damage they will do this year.

That's my tuppence worth Blackbog.

supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 2907 - 13/01/2022 09:59:03    2394697

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Just wondering where all the established Carlow posters have gone, posters like, Old Yeller, Onion Breath, Barrowsider, The Real 44, Hurling guru, etc. Hope they are all keeping well.

supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 2907 - 13/01/2022 11:04:31    2394712

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There is a serious gulf between the top 2 teams and the chasing pack in div 4, in 2020 Cavan won Ulster and Tipp won Munster the two most competitive provinces, also 2020 championship was played late in the year so it's really only about 14 months ago.

Carlow are looking at a transitional year to blood younger lads in and could be in for a bleak season but hopefully there is buy-in from the new squad and next year with Cavan & Tipp gone promotion might be realistic again. My optimistic prediction below:

1. Cavan 14pts
2. Tipp 12pts
3. Wexford 8pts
4. Sligo 7pts
5. Carlow 7pts
6. Waterford 6pts
7. Leitrim 2pts
8. London 0pts

Looking at O'Byrne Cup game v Kildare, I predict a complete bloodbath, Kildare by 15pts. Carlow had a number of players involved with Sigerson who I imagine won't feature, meanwhile Kildare beat Westmeath by 11pts last weekend, hopefully the two though games in O'Byrne cup will be good preparation for the league rather than an indication of things to come.

Carlowrising (Carlow) - Posts: 127 - 13/01/2022 12:44:20    2394732

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Replying To Carlowrising:  "There is a serious gulf between the top 2 teams and the chasing pack in div 4, in 2020 Cavan won Ulster and Tipp won Munster the two most competitive provinces, also 2020 championship was played late in the year so it's really only about 14 months ago.

Carlow are looking at a transitional year to blood younger lads in and could be in for a bleak season but hopefully there is buy-in from the new squad and next year with Cavan & Tipp gone promotion might be realistic again. My optimistic prediction below:

1. Cavan 14pts
2. Tipp 12pts
3. Wexford 8pts
4. Sligo 7pts
5. Carlow 7pts
6. Waterford 6pts
7. Leitrim 2pts
8. London 0pts

Looking at O'Byrne Cup game v Kildare, I predict a complete bloodbath, Kildare by 15pts. Carlow had a number of players involved with Sigerson who I imagine won't feature, meanwhile Kildare beat Westmeath by 11pts last weekend, hopefully the two though games in O'Byrne cup will be good preparation for the league rather than an indication of things to come."
Very new look to team tonight
10 new starters
A bloodbath it could be but as always I wish the team well

Blackbog (Carlow) - Posts: 704 - 13/01/2022 14:38:37    2394760

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