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Replying To Onion Breath: "Not to put a downer on an otherwise great weekend but underage hurling results were very disappointing this weekend. We're definitely slipping and it seems to be getting a bit worse now each year. I thought last year's minors were disappointing having looked better on paper but at least they beat Kildare. Two bad defeats at minor already this year however and now the U/20 losing to Meath is cause for major concern. I know we don't have the numbers and all that, so going on winning runs every year is not on but we're getting used to getting beaten by likes of Kerry and now Meath who are two teams we'll be competing to stay ahead of in senior in the coming years." I've been highlighting this for some time now. And I keep getting shot down by people saying we only need one or two off every youth team. Well, I'm sorry hurling doesn't work like that.
On our current trajectory, it's very possible we will slip back into the Christy Ring Cup in maybe four or five years time. Which would be a disaster.
Carlow hurling people need to have a serious conversation about the way things are headed. Especially given the rise of football will probably make that code more attractive to players in the coming years.
As for numbers, Onion, we had even fewer underage clubs when we went on those great runs in the 2000s and 2010s.
There has been a fall off in schools and in a couple of the key clubs.
CARPS (Carlow) - Posts: 1102 - 29/03/2026 21:01:09
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Replying To Onion Breath: "Fantastic to finally win a senior football trophy in Croker last night. We were by far the better team and took the lead inside about 15 seconds and Longford never once got a lead on us but we kept letting them back in to get level and always before a break in play, except for the end thankfully. In fairness we never become frustrated and kept driving at them despite once again leaving a load of goals behind us but thankfully it didn't matter last night. Great scenes in Croker and back in the town afterwards until very late. The squad seem very content. The all Carlow nature of it is contributing to that I feel.
Regarding the rest of the season we're now in bonus territory for me with the most important objective for this year having been met. Need to stay in Div 3 next year now and continue to strengthen the team at a higher level. I think that's really important.
The Wicklow game in the Leinster championship is coming very soon. A bit too soon for my liking. How often have we seen league winning teams fall flat in their first championship game a few weeks later. We should beat them as we were far superior in the league (but only won by 3 despite owning the game) but that was then and they'll probably be stung having messed up their own promotion. How they react to that I dunno they might go the other way I suppose especially now they're back recruiting players in from outside and doing so just before the last league game can't be good for squad morale. Be great to win and get a crack at the Dubs and see if we can rattle them like in 2017. That's as much as we can hope for in fairness as the Dubs on song are still very formidable. Tailteann cup we should get a favourable draw as we're among the number 2 seeds now but with the new format I dunno what that actually means. In the old format we would only have had one Div 3 side in our group so presumably it means we get a now Div 4 side in the first round?
Anyway congrats to Joe and his management team and all the players." On the whole carlow Management, Which club is the nutritionist from? Her roll can't be underestimated as she was also involved with the hurlers in 2023 championship success again after extra time! I can recall some of the players interviews giving her lots of credit for lasting the pace.
Carlowtothecore1 (Carlow) - Posts: 146 - 29/03/2026 22:52:19
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Replying To CARPS: "I've been highlighting this for some time now. And I keep getting shot down by people saying we only need one or two off every youth team. Well, I'm sorry hurling doesn't work like that.
On our current trajectory, it's very possible we will slip back into the Christy Ring Cup in maybe four or five years time. Which would be a disaster.
Carlow hurling people need to have a serious conversation about the way things are headed. Especially given the rise of football will probably make that code more attractive to players in the coming years.
As for numbers, Onion, we had even fewer underage clubs when we went on those great runs in the 2000s and 2010s.
There has been a fall off in schools and in a couple of the key clubs." In my honest opinion there is absolutely nothing being done to promote, develop or protect hurling at county board level. 10 a side leagues for minor club players as an example. GDAs have no involvement with the colts squads now as far as I'm aware and there is nothing being done to help teachers develop serious hurlers at 2nd level. It's not so long ago PDLS & Borris Vocational school were competing in A and B colleges level. The blame for minor & 20s hurlers results can't be left at managements door because this decline has been coming for the last 5/6 years. Not so long ago the minor hurling final was played at 11am on a Saturday morning!! The grade has been totally devalued and is an after thought.
benchtoaster (Carlow) - Posts: 54 - 30/03/2026 13:54:36
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Where to start with the weekend that has just gone by!
Fantastic scenes. Every single member of the team (players & management) are a credit to themselves, their county, clubs and families. We've been starved of success in county football and this was a monumental win. We often give out about the county board on this forum but credit to them for finally getting the right man and rowing in behind him. Joe played down his role in interviews after but he simply wins everywhere he goes.
A massive thanks to all involved. The atmosphere in croke park and celebrations in carlow after were a joy to behold.
A nice thing to note: The average age of this team is very very promising. Is there only 3 or 4 lads the wrong side of 30? Add a few more into the mix (Palatine should have more than 1 player there next year) and who knows what our ceiling is (Wexford back to back promotions a realistic goal).
Lastly - Get out and SUPPORT the lads vs Wicklow in less than 2 weeks time!!
EireOgAbu (Carlow) - Posts: 33 - 31/03/2026 12:11:05
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Carlow have three players on the team of the week. Padraic Bolger. Conor Doyle and Ross Dunphy. Picked from the eight teams who played in croke park Saturday and Sunday incredible achievement and well done lads.
Brendandoyle (Carlow) - Posts: 14 - 31/03/2026 20:27:20
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Replying To Onion Breath: "Not to put a downer on an otherwise great weekend but underage hurling results were very disappointing this weekend. We're definitely slipping and it seems to be getting a bit worse now each year. I thought last year's minors were disappointing having looked better on paper but at least they beat Kildare. Two bad defeats at minor already this year however and now the U/20 losing to Meath is cause for major concern. I know we don't have the numbers and all that, so going on winning runs every year is not on but we're getting used to getting beaten by likes of Kerry and now Meath who are two teams we'll be competing to stay ahead of in senior in the coming years." Seems the poor results at underage are the same for football, 2 bad beatings at u20 level in the past week. Is this down to coaching or are clubs operating at a poor standard
Dualclub1 (Carlow) - Posts: 303 - 02/04/2026 11:34:10
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Replying To Dualclub1: "Seems the poor results at underage are the same for football, 2 bad beatings at u20 level in the past week. Is this down to coaching or are clubs operating at a poor standard" A key difference is the footballers are playing A teams, but the hurlers are getting hammered by B teams.
Also, while the situation at u20 football is far from ideal, underage has less meaning in football than in hurling.
As I've said before, hurling is a skills based game. You can't just suddenly take it seriously at 20-years-old and expect to play at the top level. In football many of the leading players never played underage for their counties at all. Like Brian Fenton, or our own Mikey Bambrick.
CARPS (Carlow) - Posts: 1102 - 02/04/2026 12:18:09
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Didn't know Longford were an A Football team?? Offaly hardly a B hurling team at underage? ( All Ire champs 2 years ago).
Dualclub1 (Carlow) - Posts: 303 - 02/04/2026 12:56:59
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Replying To CARPS: "I've been highlighting this for some time now. And I keep getting shot down by people saying we only need one or two off every youth team. Well, I'm sorry hurling doesn't work like that.
On our current trajectory, it's very possible we will slip back into the Christy Ring Cup in maybe four or five years time. Which would be a disaster.
Carlow hurling people need to have a serious conversation about the way things are headed. Especially given the rise of football will probably make that code more attractive to players in the coming years.
As for numbers, Onion, we had even fewer underage clubs when we went on those great runs in the 2000s and 2010s.
There has been a fall off in schools and in a couple of the key clubs." I'm probably one of the posters this is aimed at. What I haven't got across previously is that I am of course concerned about the underage results but I don't believe its doomsday stuff.
From watching our underage hurling teams over the last number of years, I think a key difference between now and say 10/15 years ago is the conditioning of underage hurling teams. If you don't have the strength and power at minor and U20 level you will get left behind no matter what skill level you have. Our underage hurling teams are regularly getting bullied in games, through no fault of their own. Many of our players who play Senior inter county probably don't get their conditioning levels up until they have been with the senior set up for a couple of years.
The U20 game against Meath last weekend, very few players could break a tackle and were swarmed by Meath players.
There definitely is an element of clubs struggling to get coaches at times. Also the coaching courses are all held in January/February and maybe some in March. I think it would be useful it have some additional courses in the summer. There might be a bigger attendance once teams are back training etc.
ACarlowGael (Carlow) - Posts: 42 - 02/04/2026 13:37:35
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Replying To Dualclub1: "Seems the poor results at underage are the same for football, 2 bad beatings at u20 level in the past week. Is this down to coaching or are clubs operating at a poor standard" Meath have a good u20 team this year, they beat a good Antrim side in the 1st round.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19555 - 02/04/2026 14:31:42
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Replying To CARPS: "A key difference is the footballers are playing A teams, but the hurlers are getting hammered by B teams.
Also, while the situation at u20 football is far from ideal, underage has less meaning in football than in hurling.
As I've said before, hurling is a skills based game. You can't just suddenly take it seriously at 20-years-old and expect to play at the top level. In football many of the leading players never played underage for their counties at all. Like Brian Fenton, or our own Mikey Bambrick." Mikey played u20 with carlow.
Collio (Carlow) - Posts: 108 - 02/04/2026 14:32:40
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Replying To Dualclub1: "Didn't know Longford were an A Football team?? Offaly hardly a B hurling team at underage? ( All Ire champs 2 years ago)." Wouldn't agree with calling Offaly a b county, but on that Longford team they won a minor championship two years ago so are obviously a very strong team. I think our underage teams should concentrate mainly on bringing through 2/3 players from each team. Jake Nolan has been the standout player on the 20s football team so far despite being with the senior hurlers. If him and one or two others could make a senior panel and get exposure to that level of training etc we would be fine. No one on the current football team came from a particularly great underage team.
Collio (Carlow) - Posts: 108 - 02/04/2026 14:37:32
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Replying To ACarlowGael: "I'm probably one of the posters this is aimed at. What I haven't got across previously is that I am of course concerned about the underage results but I don't believe its doomsday stuff.
From watching our underage hurling teams over the last number of years, I think a key difference between now and say 10/15 years ago is the conditioning of underage hurling teams. If you don't have the strength and power at minor and U20 level you will get left behind no matter what skill level you have. Our underage hurling teams are regularly getting bullied in games, through no fault of their own. Many of our players who play Senior inter county probably don't get their conditioning levels up until they have been with the senior set up for a couple of years.
The U20 game against Meath last weekend, very few players could break a tackle and were swarmed by Meath players.
There definitely is an element of clubs struggling to get coaches at times. Also the coaching courses are all held in January/February and maybe some in March. I think it would be useful it have some additional courses in the summer. There might be a bigger attendance once teams are back training etc." The reason courses are in the winter is that coaches dont have time to attend them once the season starts
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19555 - 02/04/2026 14:52:05
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Replying To CARPS: "A key difference is the footballers are playing A teams, but the hurlers are getting hammered by B teams.
Also, while the situation at u20 football is far from ideal, underage has less meaning in football than in hurling.
As I've said before, hurling is a skills based game. You can't just suddenly take it seriously at 20-years-old and expect to play at the top level. In football many of the leading players never played underage for their counties at all. Like Brian Fenton, or our own Mikey Bambrick." Wouldn't say the hurling underage has more status than underage football. Just like in adult hurling, it's dominated by the handful of counties that rule the roost. You're not getting a surprise package winning much.
But the manner in who we're losing to is a worry.
CarlowJuniorB (Clare) - Posts: 166 - 02/04/2026 16:30:34
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Replying To Collio: "Wouldn't agree with calling Offaly a b county, but on that Longford team they won a minor championship two years ago so are obviously a very strong team. I think our underage teams should concentrate mainly on bringing through 2/3 players from each team. Jake Nolan has been the standout player on the 20s football team so far despite being with the senior hurlers. If him and one or two others could make a senior panel and get exposure to that level of training etc we would be fine. No one on the current football team came from a particularly great underage team." There is a massive question mark regarding the current underage set ups. Can you call the colts a massive failure overall? Would love to get a full list of players and see where they are now. A look at the games development officers should be done. We're a small county with a small population and relatively small handful of clubs compared to other counties, we need to be smarter with how development officers work with clubs.
CarlowJuniorB (Clare) - Posts: 166 - 02/04/2026 16:43:31
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Replying To Collio: "Wouldn't agree with calling Offaly a b county, but on that Longford team they won a minor championship two years ago so are obviously a very strong team. I think our underage teams should concentrate mainly on bringing through 2/3 players from each team. Jake Nolan has been the standout player on the 20s football team so far despite being with the senior hurlers. If him and one or two others could make a senior panel and get exposure to that level of training etc we would be fine. No one on the current football team came from a particularly great underage team." I think there was only 4 players from Longfords minor winning team starting last night.
Oddball (Roscommon) - Posts: 1036 - 02/04/2026 16:57:48
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Replying To Oddball: "I think there was only 4 players from Longfords minor winning team starting last night." 8 who played in that minor final played last night. This is a year out from their good year too. Not entirely sure of the relevance, my point was they're a good side. They also beat Laois comfortably.
Collio (Carlow) - Posts: 108 - 02/04/2026 17:18:34
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Few bits on the hurling side of things -
1. I do think we have been so lucky over the last 25 years to have had the big days we ve had as a county. We have Certainly over achieved given our numbers. It is certainly not all doom and gloom though.
2. What are we basing this "we should be doing better on?" - what?? Numbers? Standard we are playing at? What?? (This is probably across both codes tbh). From a hurling point of view based on 2024 Gaa records -
County - no of adult teams/no of u20 & youth teams - idea of where second level schools are -
Carlow - 18/83 - 1 school at b, 1 at c and most c1 or lower if fielding
Antrim - 51/176 - multiple all Ireland winning school in ballycastle at b level, not sure of others
Kerry - 27/113 - Tralee CBS in colleges B final this year, causeway would have been in all Ireland voc finals and strong in Munster years back. Tralee CBS won another Munster underage title at b this year beating a Limerick school.
Kildare - 31/267 - Naas CBS at B 20 or so years and have won Leinster. 2 more schools in b between league/champ
Down - 22/84 - don't know much!
Westmeath - 32/112 - combined team in A along with Mullingar CBS as a standalone - got to senior semi final and doing v well in 1st/2nd year comps
Meath - 43/180 - combined schools team at senior A and 1 team in B league
Offaly - 51/157 - combined A team, multiple schools at B level, in all Ireland c final this year, won b 2 years ago.
Laois - 56/161 - 2 schools at b
So our playing base is smaller than most in our "pool" on an ongoing basis. Reminder we were hurling in Liam MC in 2024. Numbers play a big part now and we are not "gaining" at the rate of other counties - we have maxed out in our traditional areas and really need more growth in other areas - especially our big centres of population. In the last 20 years, Kildare as an example, have seen massive growth in naas, celbridge, maynooth in hurling numbers.
3. Courses/GDA etc - they are there to help with the clubs and willing to come out - the number of visits to each club is given out each year. Biggest issue - clubs don't call on them to come out! Simple! I know that from my own club. Courses - lots posted and not accessed by enough coaches. - I think Carlow clubs had a paltry number at the big coaching day in SETU a few years back. It's up to us to access them - I say that as a coach myself and a former coaching officer in the club. As regards their hrs and direction - I m assuming that is looked at not only by our own county but Leinster so can't comment there. They can't cover all areas - the players are with their clubs more so responsibility lies there first off. Ultimately they will give direction but can't be in every club, primary, secondary and dev squad looking after hurling solely.
4. S/C - look at most county boards here on hstand or other ones and it's the big give out. Do I have an opinion on it? Not really. Most clubs now have gyms, are paying money to people to look after adults S\c so maybe they might be better spending this on younger members so it is engrained more . I do see a change in our own club and the culture there now. But we are behind a lot of the big counties - remember the Dublin clubs as an example had gyms (and jobs for mayo and Laois footballers!!) 25 years ago for their players.
The last factor in most things and it's hard to get away from is money. Money buys time, resources, gear, better food, etc etc. like it or love it we don't have it to the same extent as any of the above even. We probably have the smallest management teams at adult level in both codes and work with the fewest resources while trying to support both codes equally and the same at underage - which makes last weekends win, the Joe MC win etc all the more of an outlier based on the big pots of money around elsewhere. It is where it is, but it's not doom and gloom!
old yellar (None) - Posts: 2653 - 02/04/2026 18:46:39
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Replying To Dualclub1: "Didn't know Longford were an A Football team?? Offaly hardly a B hurling team at underage? ( All Ire champs 2 years ago)." The u20 hurlers were in a special B section. They lost to Meath by 14 points and failed to make the A groups.
In minor we also took part in a special B competition to qualify for the A section, which included Antrim, Wicklow, Laois, Kerry, Meath, Kildare, Offaly and ourselves.
In u20 football we competed in the A section, with an open draw.
CARPS (Carlow) - Posts: 1102 - 02/04/2026 18:55:50
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Replying To CarlowJuniorB: "There is a massive question mark regarding the current underage set ups. Can you call the colts a massive failure overall? Would love to get a full list of players and see where they are now. A look at the games development officers should be done. We're a small county with a small population and relatively small handful of clubs compared to other counties, we need to be smarter with how development officers work with clubs." I think it would be better to abandon the colts and just leave players with their clubs. It's a waste of money and it's achieving nothing.
A bigger question is why there's no accountability for this failed project.
CARPS (Carlow) - Posts: 1102 - 02/04/2026 18:57:00
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