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Carlow GAA thread

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Replying To Freethinker:  ""Constant rumours" ?? That's a bit overstated, and there is no need to be so dismissive of other people's opinions, or rumours. I know it can't be easy being as expert and knowledgable in all matters GAA as your good self, but we do our best. That being said, we will see tomorrow what kind of game it was, or who played . Anyway, do enjoy tonight's game, can't make it myself as these old bones don't enjoy the winter weather anymore. Looking forward to the game Sunday 2 weeks, and as I said in an earlier post, may the best team win."
Fair enough. It's on live on clubber tonight and on kclr radio.

Onion Breath (Carlow) - Posts: 1744 - 16/01/2026 13:11:40    2651314

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Replying To Onion Breath:  "Don't be minding free thinker and his constant rumours. There was never any suggestion of this being played as under 20. Carlow u20 have their own programme completely separate to the senior programme. U20 played SETU the other night. Same fella said earlier this week another rumour was the match wasn't going to be played which was nonsense also. Not a scooby."
To be fair I heard there were things going on behind the scenes in the Wicklow camp and it's why the fixture took a few days to be confirmed.

CarlowJuniorB (Clare) - Posts: 81 - 16/01/2026 13:43:35    2651319

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Replying To CarlowJuniorB:  "To be fair I heard there were things going on behind the scenes in the Wicklow camp and it's why the fixture took a few days to be confirmed."
Wicklow team just announced. It's our u20 team. So, rumour or not, I'm half right at least. Should be an interesting game. It seems that our seniors had arrangements made for this weekend prior to qualifying for this final.

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 2025 - 16/01/2026 15:08:18    2651340

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Wicklow are turning out their u21 team tonight. Apparently they had some training weekend booked before they qualified for the final. Carlow can only beat what's in front of them & rightly so as its not often we get a chance of silverware. The league game in 2 weeks will be totally different & much more important. I would expect a lot of changes on the Carlow team for the league game also so tonight will have no relevance to that game. Great to see a lot of lads getting their chance tonight & good luck to them

carlo (Carlow) - Posts: 296 - 16/01/2026 16:47:28    2651354

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Replying To carlo:  "Wicklow are turning out their u21 team tonight. Apparently they had some training weekend booked before they qualified for the final. Carlow can only beat what's in front of them & rightly so as its not often we get a chance of silverware. The league game in 2 weeks will be totally different & much more important. I would expect a lot of changes on the Carlow team for the league game also so tonight will have no relevance to that game. Great to see a lot of lads getting their chance tonight & good luck to them"
Did what they had to do and good to see some lads get a run out. Blake had a few nice scores, John Murphy handy and decent overall but Christ our kick outs can be brutal. Surely they would spend a bit of time on kick out techniques and not just ballooning the ball into the sky making it a 50/50.

CarlowJuniorB (Clare) - Posts: 81 - 16/01/2026 21:09:30    2651374

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Replying To CarlowJuniorB:  "Did what they had to do and good to see some lads get a run out. Blake had a few nice scores, John Murphy handy and decent overall but Christ our kick outs can be brutal. Surely they would spend a bit of time on kick out techniques and not just ballooning the ball into the sky making it a 50/50."
Agree fully re kick outs. I suppose we need to settle on a keeper first, we used three in our four O'Byrne games. Last night was a very messy game. Good for so many fringe lads in the 45 to get a game for the first time but unfortunately I think a few of them showed they are a bit short right now of the standard. A lot of poor shooting and ball control / handling wasn't always as clean as it needs to be. Early in the year I know but league starts next week and unlike last night there'll be no second chance if you don't get clean control first time and move it quickly. Squad being reduced to 32 this weekend I heard.

Onion Breath (Carlow) - Posts: 1744 - 17/01/2026 11:17:56    2651420

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Replying To CarlowJuniorB:  "Did what they had to do and good to see some lads get a run out. Blake had a few nice scores, John Murphy handy and decent overall but Christ our kick outs can be brutal. Surely they would spend a bit of time on kick out techniques and not just ballooning the ball into the sky making it a 50/50."
Lost nearly all kickout to an u20 team. Need to look at who plays midfield as well. Its a massive issue.

Bimb (Carlow) - Posts: 564 - 17/01/2026 12:58:56    2651443

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Replying To Bimb:  "Lost nearly all kickout to an u20 team. Need to look at who plays midfield as well. Its a massive issue."
Our midfield is our biggest weakness but I just don't understand our kicking out situation. Shot stopping is generally fine and not the most important thing in modern keeping. Even before the new rules getting the ball away has been incredibly important, keepers should be spending nearly their whole sessions practising pinging balls out.

What use is us ballooning a ball into a crowd or going over the sidelines nearly every kick. All teams have to do is press up against us

CarlowJuniorB (Clare) - Posts: 81 - 17/01/2026 15:53:09    2651456

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Replying To CarlowJuniorB:  "Our midfield is our biggest weakness but I just don't understand our kicking out situation. Shot stopping is generally fine and not the most important thing in modern keeping. Even before the new rules getting the ball away has been incredibly important, keepers should be spending nearly their whole sessions practising pinging balls out.

What use is us ballooning a ball into a crowd or going over the sidelines nearly every kick. All teams have to do is press up against us"
And also, keeper not given many options from players making runs out the field.. I hoped this would have improved under new management

Bimb (Carlow) - Posts: 564 - 17/01/2026 15:59:51    2651458

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Replying To CarlowJuniorB:  "Our midfield is our biggest weakness but I just don't understand our kicking out situation. Shot stopping is generally fine and not the most important thing in modern keeping. Even before the new rules getting the ball away has been incredibly important, keepers should be spending nearly their whole sessions practising pinging balls out.

What use is us ballooning a ball into a crowd or going over the sidelines nearly every kick. All teams have to do is press up against us"
Ben McCarron is our best option IMO when it comes to picking players out in pockets of space and pinging it accurately. But those moves and signals etc all takes a lot of work and with Sigerson cup ongoing I doubt they have Ben for training at the moment. Hopefully they'll find a way because we really don't have the fellas who can compete in the air for 50/50 balls left hanging. Last year in Tailteann cup just after Joe took over we did find a way out from our own restarts usually involving fellas like Paddy Mc who are quick and have quick hands being placed in the corners and taking the ball out from there using their pace to good effect. That can work better in summer conditions than winter though so we might be struggling this league in that area.

Onion Breath (Carlow) - Posts: 1744 - 17/01/2026 16:12:05    2651461

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Gents, I do have to laugh at this board sometimes. It's so frequently bi-polar. Last week, everyone has high in the clouds and this week you're all down again.

We just played four glorified practice matches. The one last night was a bit of a farce with wholesale changes and Wicklow putting out their youth team.

By my count, Joe used 36 players over the period. Up in Antrim next week, he'll use 19 or 20. ie. nearly half the lads involved in recent weeks won't get another game for a while. He employed three different goalies. And then you have some lads engaged with colleges.

How could anyone expect any coherence there?

Chill out, everyone. The real business starts next week.

Midfield is a problem. yes. So are kickouts. But there are also a lot of plusses.

Let's circle back in a fortnight and see where we are then.

Best of luck to both Carlow panels next weekend.

CARPS (Carlow) - Posts: 1017 - 17/01/2026 17:27:01    2651471

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Replying To CARPS:  "Gents, I do have to laugh at this board sometimes. It's so frequently bi-polar. Last week, everyone has high in the clouds and this week you're all down again.

We just played four glorified practice matches. The one last night was a bit of a farce with wholesale changes and Wicklow putting out their youth team.

By my count, Joe used 36 players over the period. Up in Antrim next week, he'll use 19 or 20. ie. nearly half the lads involved in recent weeks won't get another game for a while. He employed three different goalies. And then you have some lads engaged with colleges.

How could anyone expect any coherence there?

Chill out, everyone. The real business starts next week.

Midfield is a problem. yes. So are kickouts. But there are also a lot of plusses.

Let's circle back in a fortnight and see where we are then.

Best of luck to both Carlow panels next weekend."
A question on the panel numbers. How does it work in Carlow re the fringe players on the panel with regards to allowing those outside the matchday squad being allowed line out with their clubs in league matches. Here a player could warm the bench all year but still isn't allowed line out with his club.

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 2025 - 17/01/2026 18:16:58    2651478

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Replying To Freethinker:  "A question on the panel numbers. How does it work in Carlow re the fringe players on the panel with regards to allowing those outside the matchday squad being allowed line out with their clubs in league matches. Here a player could warm the bench all year but still isn't allowed line out with his club."
As far as I understand, players not used may line out with their clubs. Open to correction on that. My club doesn't have anyone in with the football at present. Only the hurling.

CARPS (Carlow) - Posts: 1017 - 17/01/2026 18:58:04    2651491

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Replying To CARPS:  "Gents, I do have to laugh at this board sometimes. It's so frequently bi-polar. Last week, everyone has high in the clouds and this week you're all down again.

We just played four glorified practice matches. The one last night was a bit of a farce with wholesale changes and Wicklow putting out their youth team.

By my count, Joe used 36 players over the period. Up in Antrim next week, he'll use 19 or 20. ie. nearly half the lads involved in recent weeks won't get another game for a while. He employed three different goalies. And then you have some lads engaged with colleges.

How could anyone expect any coherence there?

Chill out, everyone. The real business starts next week.

Midfield is a problem. yes. So are kickouts. But there are also a lot of plusses.

Let's circle back in a fortnight and see where we are then.

Best of luck to both Carlow panels next weekend."
I don't think anyone is reading into these matches too much or there's doom and gloom? All talk focusing on kick outs and a poor midfield which is an easy comparison across the matches between the keepers used and the consistent loss of ball in midfield? Simple as.

End of the day it's nice to go into the league with some optimism.

CarlowJuniorB (Clare) - Posts: 81 - 17/01/2026 18:59:19    2651492

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Replying To CARPS:  "As far as I understand, players not used may line out with their clubs. Open to correction on that. My club doesn't have anyone in with the football at present. Only the hurling."
You're correct on that. Fellas who are part of the county senior panels hurling and football can and do turn out for their clubs in the football league or Bolger Cup. There's no rule against it. It's usually fellas returning from injury who need a game and fellas who are in the county set up but who are not getting county game time and need it who end up playing club games though.

Onion Breath (Carlow) - Posts: 1744 - 17/01/2026 22:17:41    2651524

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Well done to the lads winning the O'Byrne Shield - hopefully it's not another 16 years before we win something again. Shame that Wicklow didn't bring their senior team, it was most likely a strategic move from McConville to keep his cards close to his chest rather than a vital training camp planned that couldn't be missed. All in all, preperations look to have gone extremely well for this season going in to the National League.

In my view our midfield isn't as much of a concern as others believe. Conor Doyle is as good a midfielder in division 4, and going by last years Tailteann Cup performances and the 4 games this year so far, I would side with Sean Murphy in midfield along side Doyle. Both have size, pace and ball winning ability.

Not sure if we ever had this much competition for places in the forward line which is a great position to be in allowing us to play who ever is in form and delivering: Dunphy, Bambrick, Hulton, Foley, Crowley, Blake, McDonnell, Gavin, Clarke, Amond, Lomax, K Murphy, Walker and more.

Our defensive line out seems to be a bit more easy to predict with a mix of Colin Byrne, Mark Furey, Lee Moore, Shane Clarke, John Murphy and the Roche brothers all likely to see a lot of game time.

As mentioned time and time again Kickouts are still our biggest issue, we struggled badly again against Wicklow and their goal came direct from a kickout. If our opposition press we are in big trouble. Hopefully this can be rectified after a few years of floundering kickouts. I'd Like to see Ben McCarron get a run of games, he has a higher ceiling to improve, currently playing at a good level and could win the Sigurson cup with UCD.

Despite our good recent run and Antrims two hammerings they will be hard to turn over in Toomebridge next Sunday. A win would put us in a serious position for promotion but a good performance is crucial to start off on the right note. Looking forward to it and quietly confident (for a good performance) and hopeful (for a result). Ceatharlach Abu.

Carlowrising (Carlow) - Posts: 185 - 19/01/2026 00:39:00    2651766

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Any inter county hurler is not allowed to play in Bolger Cup, regardless of whether they are in the 26 matchday panel or on the extended panel. This rule benefits no one and I hope that it changes for 2026.

ACarlowGael (Carlow) - Posts: 27 - 19/01/2026 08:58:35    2651779

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