National Forum

Carlow GAA thread

(Oldest Posts First) - Go To The Latest Post


I'd like to wish both Carlow teams all the best this weekend.

The hurlers winning would be a sensation. And they're more than capable of it. But I understand it's a huge ask. Dublin will take them for granted, so that should be their inspiration.

As for the footballers, if we fail to get promoted this year it'll be a meltdown of historic proportions. I'm involved in GAA since the time of the dinosaurs and I never recall a senior county team winning their first four league games and not getting over the line.

I don't know if management read this board, but I'll make one point. I assumed they'd shake up the team last week after what happened in Longford, but they didn't. If they want to win tomorrow, they have to wield the axe. There's five or six guys who have totally underperformed in the last two games and if they get the nod to start tomorrow we might as well accept our fate before we even cross the white line.

As a political party once said, it's time to be radical or be redundant.

CARPS (Carlow) - Posts: 1059 - 21/03/2026 11:53:42    2662049

Link

Replying To supersub15:  "Good and honest post.
I think the forum has seen better days, the real gaa posters are apparently doing other things, good luck with that.

I see Carlow will qualify for promotion by the narrowest of margins so I'll predict a draw result between themselves and leitrim.
As I predicted at the start I think Wicklow too will go up as well."
I am going to hold you to that supersub15.

Good luck to ye tomorrow.

sponger (Wicklow) - Posts: 2979 - 21/03/2026 12:43:46    2662056

Link

Hard luck to the hurlers wasn't able to make the game but being only 3 behind at half time it was still on to stay up. Didn't seem to get out the traps in second half at all but by sounds of it dublin didnt let them. Maybe a year in division 2 at this stage woukdnt be worst thing in the world give them chance to reset and hopefully breed a few new players in games where hopefully we should be comfortable in. Any longer than 1 year down there though will be a disaster.

With down beating antrim yesterday it puts into perspective how poor that performance was there has been a noticeable decline woth the team this year but we've been here before and these men have always come back stronger each time.

Hopefully they can give the joe mcdonagh a good rattle this year.

ITSCHOLAR (Carlow) - Posts: 327 - 22/03/2026 08:44:03    2662154

Link

Replying To supersub15:  "Good and honest post.
I think the forum has seen better days, the real gaa posters are apparently doing other things, good luck with that.

I see Carlow will qualify for promotion by the narrowest of margins so I'll predict a draw result between themselves and leitrim.
As I predicted at the start I think Wicklow too will go up as well."
Best of luck today. We could be seeing a lot of each other in future weeks

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 2157 - 22/03/2026 12:51:32    2662182

Link

Fantastic performance today! The changes seemed to really work. Lee Walker had a great game as did too many to mention. A bit nervous to start but once they got on top they never looked back. Promotion and a league final to look forward to.

Unusedsub (Carlow) - Posts: 139 - 22/03/2026 14:59:47    2662214

Link

Said it after the Wicklow game that we would put a team to the sword after controlling the game so well and missing so many chances. Finally came true today. The shake up of the team worked a treat. Unbelievable all round.

CarlowJuniorB (Clare) - Posts: 129 - 22/03/2026 15:01:09    2662216

Link

Replying To CarlowJuniorB:  "Said it after the Wicklow game that we would put a team to the sword after controlling the game so well and missing so many chances. Finally came true today. The shake up of the team worked a treat. Unbelievable all round."
Wicklow blew it lare on

Jack L (None) - Posts: 3200 - 22/03/2026 15:10:49    2662219

Link

Congratulations lads on your deserved promotion, ye were very impressive , we were terrible but ye still had to put us to the sword, good luck for the rest of the year and in Division 3 next year.

JimmyNail (Leitrim) - Posts: 336 - 22/03/2026 15:43:56    2662232

Link

Great win today for the footballers brilliant lads!!

Heard hurlers played well if that's true or not? wasn't at it so didn't see anything me self

Ceatharlach7000 (Carlow) - Posts: 32 - 22/03/2026 15:48:13    2662236

Link

Well done Carlow. After shakey start totally dominated game. Great to play in croke park. Go and play with a free spirit after winning promotion. Loads of ability and talent and another shot at Longford. Proud to be Carlow gaa fan today. Well done.

Brendandoyle (Carlow) - Posts: 10 - 22/03/2026 16:11:03    2662251

Link

Great performance from the lads today - after another worrying start it must be said. But fair play to them they stuck at it and chipped away at the early Leitrim lead point by point and by half time we were clearly on top all over. If I'm not mistaken we held Leitrim to just two points in the last 60+ minutes which is some achievement. Forwards were on fire also and great to have put right the wrongs of recent weeks in front of the posts. Not a day to be picking out individual players when the entire squad deserves all the credit but it was fantastic to see Mikey back to his very best today. No coincidence I'd say that today was the firmest ground we got to play on all year so far as he burned Leitrim repeatedly with his pace. Onwards now to Croker for a final v Longford and it would be great to win a national final there as they don't come around often for lots of counties and certainly not for us. Saying that next week is the least important league game in my opinion as the promotion is all that matters really.

Re the hurlers despite the defeat I thought we looked a lot better last night, first half in particular, and scored two brilliant goals. Well worth seeing Marty's in particular on TV tonight as it was a real goal of the season contender. A year in division 2 might not be any harm for the younger lads who came in this year but we need to make sure we just one year there and get straight back up.

Onion Breath (Carlow) - Posts: 1806 - 22/03/2026 16:29:59    2662258

Link

Well done guys.

As I said...we can't be trusted.

sponger (Wicklow) - Posts: 2979 - 22/03/2026 17:05:14    2662266

Link

Brilliant performance by the lads today. It was the complete opposite to last Saturday against London. I was worried with the start we made as Leitrim had 2 goals scored very early but we managed to get on top & went in 5 up at half time. The 2nd half we completely took over & really put them to the sword. Leitrim definitely gave up the fight mid way through 2nd half & we ended up getting a hurling type score.
Great to be looking forward to a league final next Saturday & tbh I'm glad Longford are the team we meeting. Nothing at all against Wicklow & normally I'd be happy to see them go up with us but we have them in 3 weeks in the Championship. It would be very hard to beat the same team 4 times in 1 year so I'll take Longford in final. We definitely owe them one after the league & last year in Tailteann Cup.
Today was my first time in the flesh to see a Carlow team promoted from Div 4 so it was a great day. Ceatharlach abu

carlo (Carlow) - Posts: 319 - 22/03/2026 17:08:19    2662267

Link

Congrats Carlow football. Enjoy Division 3 and do well there.

Your hurlers got no rub of the green at all. Straight back up, hopefully.

foreveryoung (USA) - Posts: 2476 - 22/03/2026 17:33:27    2662274

Link

It was the performance that looked like it was coming all year it finally came. Fair play to the management for making some big calls. They get criticism when it goes wrong and rightly so. But they deserve a lot of credit for that today in a crunch game to make so many changes and get a serious performance. Thought Lee was excellent today in his first game in a long time he seemed to improve as the game went on. Conor doyle made some huge contribution today he is the best we have . Ross dunphy is back in form too kicked some great scores when we needed them.

Barrowsider (Carlow) - Posts: 1746 - 22/03/2026 18:24:30    2662297

Link

Replying To Barrowsider:  "It was the performance that looked like it was coming all year it finally came. Fair play to the management for making some big calls. They get criticism when it goes wrong and rightly so. But they deserve a lot of credit for that today in a crunch game to make so many changes and get a serious performance. Thought Lee was excellent today in his first game in a long time he seemed to improve as the game went on. Conor doyle made some huge contribution today he is the best we have . Ross dunphy is back in form too kicked some great scores when we needed them."
Re that last point you made, that occurred to me also, particularly Ross, but other players also, in the first half especially when we really needed scores after Leitrim's great start, our players always seemed to make the right decisions today. Lots of occasions when goals might have been on (3 v 2 type situations) but today points were taken.

In previous matches we overplayed those situations seeking goals and ended up butchering lots of chances but today we were more patient and kept taking the points and putting a bit of distance between us and Leitrim. I'd like to think that was something that was discussed after recent losses and a conscious decision taken to just take the points in those situations (and as often happens the goals came anyway).

Onion Breath (Carlow) - Posts: 1806 - 22/03/2026 19:06:41    2662320

Link

Replying To CARPS:  "I'd like to wish both Carlow teams all the best this weekend.

The hurlers winning would be a sensation. And they're more than capable of it. But I understand it's a huge ask. Dublin will take them for granted, so that should be their inspiration.

As for the footballers, if we fail to get promoted this year it'll be a meltdown of historic proportions. I'm involved in GAA since the time of the dinosaurs and I never recall a senior county team winning their first four league games and not getting over the line.

I don't know if management read this board, but I'll make one point. I assumed they'd shake up the team last week after what happened in Longford, but they didn't. If they want to win tomorrow, they have to wield the axe. There's five or six guys who have totally underperformed in the last two games and if they get the nod to start tomorrow we might as well accept our fate before we even cross the white line.

As a political party once said, it's time to be radical or be redundant."
Delighted that management today headed the advice of the Carlow All-Round Performance Squad. Or maybe it should be renamed Carlow's Army of Relentless Point Scorers.

Well done to all involved. The lads made big calls at it worked. They will now have plenty of food for thought before the championship.

But first there's a serious trophy up for grabs next weekend.

Ross Dunphy and Conor Doyle were sensational today. I also thought John Phiri, Lee Walker, John Murphy, Colm Hulton and Mikey Bambrick played superbly. But everyone contributed.

As for the hurling, I'm afraid it's all at a bit of a low ebb. The minor game today was a bit of a disaster. A 33 point defeat to Offaly. Once upon a time, we'd have fancied our chances of beating them.

CARPS (Carlow) - Posts: 1059 - 22/03/2026 19:51:23    2662338

Link