National Forum

Carlow GAA thread

(Oldest Posts First) - Go To The Latest Post


Replying To ITSCHOLAR:  "Unfortunately have a family commitment i can't get out of but nothing like a trip to wexford beautiful part of the country have always enjoyed my trips down.

Here's hoping it's a good game of course with carlow taking the points home."
Ill agree with hoping its a good game! But hopefully we will end up with the points!

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 18349 - 06/02/2026 15:46:57    2655249

Link

Good performance down in Wexford this evening up until about 55 mins when we were well in it and a draw at least looked very possible. But the last 10-15 minutes were very disappointing we just seemed to collapse. We didn't look as fit and the Wexford subs were on by then and they made a big impact and that alone shows the difference between us and them in that they have way more depth. We were down James Doyle and Ciarán Whelan and we don't have replacements anywhere near that standard and it showed. We don't have their depth so we need all our top players without exception to have a chance really. Wexford players were also just that bit sharper and quicker to breaking ball so no complaints even at 55 minutes they looked the slightly better team but in the last 15 they crowned it and were worth the win maybe not by 10 but certainly by 5-6 points.

I thought by the end the team seemed to have lost some heart as Wexford took over but hopefully they'll get over this quickly as it's all to play for still and there's at least two games that we can definitely win where we're not going in hoping for an upset. We need at least one more win, maybe a draw also, to stay up which would be a great achievement and great place to develop younger players while sustaining our place at this level.

Onion Breath (Carlow) - Posts: 1771 - 07/02/2026 22:10:53    2655429

Link

Replying To Onion Breath:  "Good performance down in Wexford this evening up until about 55 mins when we were well in it and a draw at least looked very possible. But the last 10-15 minutes were very disappointing we just seemed to collapse. We didn't look as fit and the Wexford subs were on by then and they made a big impact and that alone shows the difference between us and them in that they have way more depth. We were down James Doyle and Ciarán Whelan and we don't have replacements anywhere near that standard and it showed. We don't have their depth so we need all our top players without exception to have a chance really. Wexford players were also just that bit sharper and quicker to breaking ball so no complaints even at 55 minutes they looked the slightly better team but in the last 15 they crowned it and were worth the win maybe not by 10 but certainly by 5-6 points.

I thought by the end the team seemed to have lost some heart as Wexford took over but hopefully they'll get over this quickly as it's all to play for still and there's at least two games that we can definitely win where we're not going in hoping for an upset. We need at least one more win, maybe a draw also, to stay up which would be a great achievement and great place to develop younger players while sustaining our place at this level."
Think to be fair at 70 minutes it was a four point game and that was a true reflection. The penalty was an absolute disgrace and if it was against any of the top teams they'd be uproar. Not a goal scoring chance nor a deliberate foul! That made it 7 and def heads dropped for last few mins to concede 3 more with 14 men… which is understandable. Loads of positives to take from it, fitness def not there yet and showed over last 10mins, but it's only 1st weekend of Feb and manager only working with the group for 8 weeks. Hopefully the niggles picked up tonight are only minor as we need lads coming back not going the other way!

Carlowtothecore1 (Carlow) - Posts: 108 - 08/02/2026 00:54:49    2655453

Link

After 55 mins yesterday we were a point up & lost by 10. That shouldn't happen. I agree that Wexford looked fitter than us & even though we played some great hurling up to the 55 min I always felt like we were hanging on. Their subs made all the difference & we just don't have that depth. The penalty for them was a joke as the Wexford player tripped himself up & then to lose Mac on a black card just made it worse. I also thing the timing of the game came against us. Wexford had got 2 frights against Antrim & Down & were always going to be up for the Carlow game. Chin was back last night & made a big difference when he came in.
However lots of positives in the first 55 mins & we took some great scores. New players have come in & these type of games against higher opposition will only bring them on. 2 week break now before Antrim which is a hugh game. Win that & we could be safe.
Finally was listening to Bennett before & after the game( couldn't travel down) and it was all about how we are light years behind Wexford & we just trying to get young lads to learn. This type of hurling is new for us etc etc. Carlow have a fairly experienced team & have played & competed with the big boys for a few years now. We beat his Waterford last year, drew with Kilkenny in Championship previous year & won Joe Mcdonagh in 2023. Maybe he is just playing the poor mouth but didn't like the way he spoke

carlo (Carlow) - Posts: 301 - 08/02/2026 07:28:40    2655456

Link

Replying To Onion Breath:  "Good performance down in Wexford this evening up until about 55 mins when we were well in it and a draw at least looked very possible. But the last 10-15 minutes were very disappointing we just seemed to collapse. We didn't look as fit and the Wexford subs were on by then and they made a big impact and that alone shows the difference between us and them in that they have way more depth. We were down James Doyle and Ciarán Whelan and we don't have replacements anywhere near that standard and it showed. We don't have their depth so we need all our top players without exception to have a chance really. Wexford players were also just that bit sharper and quicker to breaking ball so no complaints even at 55 minutes they looked the slightly better team but in the last 15 they crowned it and were worth the win maybe not by 10 but certainly by 5-6 points.

I thought by the end the team seemed to have lost some heart as Wexford took over but hopefully they'll get over this quickly as it's all to play for still and there's at least two games that we can definitely win where we're not going in hoping for an upset. We need at least one more win, maybe a draw also, to stay up which would be a great achievement and great place to develop younger players while sustaining our place at this level."
4 point game on 70th minute which was probably a fair reflection of match overall.. Terrible ref decision on penalty, can someone please explain the rule as it was neither a goal scoring chance or deliberate foul. I hope rte bring it up tonight but prob unlikely as it's only carlow!!. That ref wasn't good and prob would have suited carlow better if it was more physical and let go abit. Fitness not there to see out game but it's still first weekend in Feb. If we had our Chin to bring on with 20 left (James Doyle) what a difference that would have made. Heads dropped after penalty, but our goalie needs to learn game management and should have recognised that, cost us 3 more points in injury time.
Hopefully the niggles aren't serious as we can't afford to missing anyone.

Carlowtothecore1 (Carlow) - Posts: 108 - 08/02/2026 08:50:04    2655461

Link

After today's results the next match v Antrim in Dunloy is now massive. If we win we're all but certain to stay up. We'd have them on the H2H and it'll be impossible for them to catch us as they could only get to 4 points after that. We'd really only be in danger if down went and won their last 3 games which is not going to happen.

Huge incentive there to win in Antrim and put the league to bed early and use the remaining games as no pressure prep for McDonagh Cup. Davy and Antrim will have had their pride wounded after today and will surely throw everything into beating us on home soil. A defeat for us up there would leave us needing to better Antrim on points which would mean beating Kildare, a big ask, on its own would probably not be enough so we'd need to be getting something out of games v Dublin or Clare (very big asks).

Onion Breath (Carlow) - Posts: 1771 - 08/02/2026 19:20:38    2655546

Link

Replying To Onion Breath:  "After today's results the next match v Antrim in Dunloy is now massive. If we win we're all but certain to stay up. We'd have them on the H2H and it'll be impossible for them to catch us as they could only get to 4 points after that. We'd really only be in danger if down went and won their last 3 games which is not going to happen.

Huge incentive there to win in Antrim and put the league to bed early and use the remaining games as no pressure prep for McDonagh Cup. Davy and Antrim will have had their pride wounded after today and will surely throw everything into beating us on home soil. A defeat for us up there would leave us needing to better Antrim on points which would mean beating Kildare, a big ask, on its own would probably not be enough so we'd need to be getting something out of games v Dublin or Clare (very big asks)."
If we beat antrim and kildare beat us is it possible (in theory) that theres a 3 way tie on 4 points making h2h redundant?

Bimb (Carlow) - Posts: 578 - 08/02/2026 21:59:13    2655564

Link

Replying To Bimb:  "If we beat antrim and kildare beat us is it possible (in theory) that theres a 3 way tie on 4 points making h2h redundant?"
Then it comes down to score difference between the 3 teams I'd assume.
If we beat Antrim and Kildare which I'd assume the panel would give themselves every chance and rightly so, then we'd be welcoming Dublin to carlow for last round that could potentially be a league semi final.. now that's where the late Wexford scores could prove a negative..
Given the achievements of this group over the years we should be giving them every chance and full support to achieving this, rather than looking at worse case scenario. Last night again proved we can compete with the top teams in this division.

Carlowtothecore1 (Carlow) - Posts: 108 - 08/02/2026 22:31:02    2655568

Link

Replying To Bimb:  "If we beat antrim and kildare beat us is it possible (in theory) that theres a 3 way tie on 4 points making h2h redundant?"
That would be the Kate 10pt wipe out last night might come into play.

Passer_By (Carlow) - Posts: 546 - 08/02/2026 22:32:19    2655569

Link

I wouldn't be too hard on yourselves lads. Early in the second half you were well in it. Chin gave us a lift and we finished strong but 10 points was very flattering to us.

Keeper was unlucky for the penalty and he made a brilliant save at the end of the first half.

Penalty decision was dodgy but for what it's worth there was a very good chance Kevin Foley was going to bury it.

Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 4234 - 08/02/2026 22:45:07    2655570

Link

Replying To Bimb:  "If we beat antrim and kildare beat us is it possible (in theory) that theres a 3 way tie on 4 points making h2h redundant?"
No because Kildare will be on 6 (after beating Down).

Onion Breath (Carlow) - Posts: 1771 - 08/02/2026 23:57:28    2655580

Link

Replying To Onion Breath:  "No because Kildare will be on 6 (after beating Down)."
Important trip to the scotrish border so

Bimb (Carlow) - Posts: 578 - 09/02/2026 09:55:49    2655599

Link

Replying To Bimb:  "Important trip to the scotrish border so"
This Carlow team played well for 60 plus min. They were organised and knew the game plan. Their execution of that game plan was satisfactory without being seriously threatening to Wexford.
Our puck out strategy was clear and Wexford dealt with our puckouts well. Our failure to win sufficient possession from our puck outs cost us a lot of points on the board.
And yet, despite Wexford being on top in many sectors in defence especiall, our players attacked at every opportunity and troubled Wexford. Marty's 13 from frees tells us that when we ran at Wexford, they fouled.
We were ahead a few times in the second half as well which was very encouraging.
Chris Nolan marked his return with 2 spectacular over the shoulder points from each sideline. Superb points. Fiachra Fitz took his goal really well and we just did not create a good goal chance in the second half.
Overall it was a decent display which shows i believe that we expect these guys to perform. They have been a fantastic set of players and i believe that they will have learned a lot and be better in Dunloy. One game at a time. Kildare will be a different proposition. Antrim need to be taken first.

carlowman (Carlow) - Posts: 1892 - 09/02/2026 20:17:00    2655727

Link

Confirmed that unfortunately James Doyle and Ciaran Whelan are both out for the rest of the league. Big losses we missed their quality last weekend. Not going to be risked until they're 100% so won't be playing until the McDonagh Cup all going well.

Onion Breath (Carlow) - Posts: 1771 - 10/02/2026 17:04:42    2655818

Link

Replying To Onion Breath:  "Tipp must be serious promotion contenders after today's win v Antrim. I didn't see that coming.

Now we face Tipp away in our next game which is not ideal given that they will now be full of belief. Whoever wins will be in a great position for promotion. I would imagine Semple Stadium should suit our lads very well though. Nice firm surface and a big open pitch which our strong runners can exploit. Just need to turn possession into more scores after leaving an awful lot behind last night and we were nearly caught in the end which would have been a travesty given how totally dominant we were.

Good to have a break next weekend. It's been a hectic few weeks with lots of games since the start of January.

Hats off to Joe and his all Carlow management team. Not that we're surprised I think we all knew he would turn our fortunes around and quickly it's just a pity we wasted the last few years."
I agree with you that Tipp will be full of confidence, and playing at home is a big help to them whereas it's another big ask for Carlow.

A win against Antrim and a good draw against London away scoring 00-21 says they know where the posts are.

I'm going for a draw result, and I'd be happy with that.
Can you improve on that.?

supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 3359 - 11/02/2026 10:16:54    2655894

Link

Replying To supersub15:  "I agree with you that Tipp will be full of confidence, and playing at home is a big help to them whereas it's another big ask for Carlow.

A win against Antrim and a good draw against London away scoring 00-21 says they know where the posts are.

I'm going for a draw result, and I'd be happy with that.
Can you improve on that.?"
I think our win against Antrim has been devalued a bit as they now seem to be in disarray, certainly since we beat them anyway as some of their players have now walked away from the panel. They also finished with 13 against Tipp. which is never a good sign. It probably now means that Antrim are not the contenders we thought they would be before it started and other teams still to play them might now get it a bit easier compared to how hard we had to work to beat them up there on day 1.

As a result it's hard to know what Tipp are really like after also beating Antrim and how good are London really? London beat Longford but then Longford only scrapped past Waterford. It'll be a lot clearer after Sunday anyway what way the form of teams is really shaping up like. Interesting to see how Leitrim do in London. They're a team I'd be worried about as it seems they have a number of strong players now coming back and we don't play them until our last game so they're likely to be getting stronger as it goes on. I wouldn't like the pressure of having to beat them on the last day if it came to that and they are still in it then also. Poacher and St Ledger back in town will only add to it!

For this Sunday I think having no match last weekend will do us good, we had a hectic period of non-stop matches up to and including the Wicklow match. I think the big open pitch should suit our lads a lot hopefully. From memory of last year I don't think Tipp struck me as a running team but were very big down the middle so opening it up and breaking quickly the way our lads can should suit. As of now I wouldn't take a draw as I'm optimistic we'll have enough to win there on Sunday by maybe 2-3 points but it will be tight.

Onion Breath (Carlow) - Posts: 1771 - 11/02/2026 13:28:47    2655928

Link

Replying To Onion Breath:  "I think our win against Antrim has been devalued a bit as they now seem to be in disarray, certainly since we beat them anyway as some of their players have now walked away from the panel. They also finished with 13 against Tipp. which is never a good sign. It probably now means that Antrim are not the contenders we thought they would be before it started and other teams still to play them might now get it a bit easier compared to how hard we had to work to beat them up there on day 1.

As a result it's hard to know what Tipp are really like after also beating Antrim and how good are London really? London beat Longford but then Longford only scrapped past Waterford. It'll be a lot clearer after Sunday anyway what way the form of teams is really shaping up like. Interesting to see how Leitrim do in London. They're a team I'd be worried about as it seems they have a number of strong players now coming back and we don't play them until our last game so they're likely to be getting stronger as it goes on. I wouldn't like the pressure of having to beat them on the last day if it came to that and they are still in it then also. Poacher and St Ledger back in town will only add to it!

For this Sunday I think having no match last weekend will do us good, we had a hectic period of non-stop matches up to and including the Wicklow match. I think the big open pitch should suit our lads a lot hopefully. From memory of last year I don't think Tipp struck me as a running team but were very big down the middle so opening it up and breaking quickly the way our lads can should suit. As of now I wouldn't take a draw as I'm optimistic we'll have enough to win there on Sunday by maybe 2-3 points but it will be tight."
Agree with your overall emphasis! I think that Joe will have the team buzzing.for the win and full of confidence !
Tipp will be wary of Carlow, regardless of Antrim's woes.
The break should suit our players and they will be very eager and Joe will.have a different test over the bext few days managing their energy and enthusiasm.
All.good news !
We.have not been in this situation before and managing the players expectations will be important to the result.
Tipp at home are a confident crew.but they are.definitely.beatable.
Again, the kickouts are.going to be crucial. Our success against Wicklow will be tested.i feel Tipp who will want to put us under.pressure. That will leave us relyng on our midfield a little more and the breaks will be all important.
It really.is a huge test.for Carlow. I think this is the biggest challenge so far amf it will.be worth watching.!.

carlowman (Carlow) - Posts: 1892 - 11/02/2026 22:31:26    2656013

Link

Replying To carlowman:  "Agree with your overall emphasis! I think that Joe will have the team buzzing.for the win and full of confidence !
Tipp will be wary of Carlow, regardless of Antrim's woes.
The break should suit our players and they will be very eager and Joe will.have a different test over the bext few days managing their energy and enthusiasm.
All.good news !
We.have not been in this situation before and managing the players expectations will be important to the result.
Tipp at home are a confident crew.but they are.definitely.beatable.
Again, the kickouts are.going to be crucial. Our success against Wicklow will be tested.i feel Tipp who will want to put us under.pressure. That will leave us relyng on our midfield a little more and the breaks will be all important.
It really.is a huge test.for Carlow. I think this is the biggest challenge so far amf it will.be worth watching.!."
I think Joe is best placed at the moment to be able to channel the right energy for the match. Matching expectations but keeping feet grounded is a skill in itself. Don't think he's taking anything for granted and giving it all the full focus. Exciting weekend now and a win really sets the tone for the rest of the year.

CarlowJuniorB (Clare) - Posts: 93 - 12/02/2026 12:00:59    2656055

Link