Carlow win a just reward

CARLOW’S one point victory over Dublin in the O’Byrne Cup may have surprised many in the world of gaelic football, but not the winner’s coach, Mick Condon.

Condon who plied his trade at club level with Clane and inter-county level with Kildare in the 1970s, said the success was just reward for their hard work.

“It’s great for the lads to pull off a win over one of the big name teams. The result was what they deserved for the effort they’ve been putting in over the last couple of weeks.

“The talk among football people in Carlow is that they haven’t seen anything like the effort the present players are making. The win has certainly created a great buzz around and hopefully we can build on that.

“However I’m long enough around to know that one swallow doesn’t make a summer and we face another mammoth task when we travel to Mullingar next Sunday to take on Westmeath in the semi-final. What the win over Dublin does for us is give the players that bit of extra confidence which can make the difference.”

This is Condon’s second year at the helm and he is also responsible for the U21 team. That side failed to Meath by a goal in the Leinster semi-final last year, and this year’s senior squad includes 11 of those players.

“The beauty with young players is that they have no inhibitions when it comes to playing the big boys. After a good start against Dublin we lost our way for a spell, and heads began to drop.

“The decision was made to substitute three of our experienced players with three youngsters and it worked well for us. The eight point deficit looked intimidating, but I told the players it was time to stand up and be counted.

“We came out in the second half and proceeded to give an exhibition of football. It was a tremendous performance particularly by the younger lads and the team deserved the standing ovation it got at the final whistle.

“A win like this for Carlow is like winning a Leinster title. Hopefully it will have a knock-on effect with everybody interested in football in the county.

“The more often you beat teams like Dublin, the better for players’ morale and confidence. With so many young players involved, this win couldn’t have come at a better time, and will certainly put us in the right frame of mind for Sunday’s semi-final.”

Mickey Harte just can’t get enough of winning, and his insatiable hunger for success has given an ailing competition a serious makeover.

The Dr McKenna Cup is suddenly trendy once again, thanks to Harte’s insistence that this is a title he dearly wants.

“I’m not making any effort to hide the fact that I want to win it,” he said in the wake of the All-Ireland champions’ battling victory over Derry on Sunday.

“I don’t think it’s right to go into a competition not wanting to win it.”

Harte was bitterly disappointed at losing last season’s McKenna Cup final to Monaghan.

To most managers the subsequent capture of the National League and All-Ireland titles would represent ample compensation, but Harte dearly wants to set the record straight by catching up with the one that got away.

“You obviously won’t win everything you’re involved in, but you have to try, and if you try to win ... well if you lose, at least you know you did your best on the way to doing that.”

Having watched his players come from five points behind to defeat neighbours Derry by two at Omagh, Harte declared himself happy with the way they had tempered their All-Ireland celebrations in recent weeks.

“I’m very happy with the way that they conducted themselves. They enjoyed themselves, they celebrated, and they still obviously have some energy left to play football with.”

That the Tyrone squad had returned from holiday in Dubai just days before the season’s opening competitive fixture made their impressive physical condition all the more pleasing to the manager.

“It had to be high energy. I don’t think you can pick and choose what you want to win, and what you want to lose. I don’t believe in that, and I’d have been fiercely disappointed if we had lost that game.

“Certainly, into the second half, it looked like we were going to lose, and that wouldn’t have been pleasing at all. I asked for a big effort from the boys at half-time, and that was the main thing.

“We needed the effort, and if we got that, we’ll be happy to take the result that went with it. And most often you’ll find that when you put in the effort, the result’s not too bad.”