Meyler hails Carlow’s commitment

“Probably the most committed bunch of players I’ve ever been involved with” — that’s manager John Meyler on the Carlow squad that takes on Laois tomorrow in Portlaoise in the Leinster SHC quarter-final.

“Very committed, very determined. The fact they’re next door to Kilkenny has rubbed off on them, in that respect. The difference, though, is that all the clubs in Carlow are dual clubs, in Kilkenny it’s mainly hurling.”

There is another difference — size. Carlow is less than half the size of Kilkenny, has just over half the population (54,612 v 95,419). If that isn’t enough disadvantage, only a fraction of those in Carlow are actually playing hurling.

County board secretary Ger Lennon says: “Carlow is roughly v-shaped and hurling is played almost exclusively in the bottom part of that v. Draw a line from Bagenalstown to Myshall, north of that line there isn’t a single player on the county hurling team, south of that line there’s hardly a player on the football panel.

“There are only six senior hurling teams, six intermediate teams also but five of those, it’s the second team of the senior clubs. We’re very like Offaly, hurling in one part of the county, football in the other, never the twain shall meet. I’d say there are places in the south of the county and they’d hardly know when the footballers are playing, and vice-versa in the north.”

Lennon is at a complete loss to explain the great divide.

“That’s just the way it is, all the hurling is in the south, squeezed between Kilkenny and Wexford.

“Carlow town is the challenge, if you could grow it there, you have a chance. They were senior last year but are now back at intermediate. Hurling needs to be strong there. Tullow is the next biggest town, another challenge.”

With the resources they have then, it’s amazing what Carlow are doing, punching way above their weight. They were in Division 1B of the league this season, up against teams from hurling’s upper echelons. Unfortunately they didn’t win a game which, for a man with the competitive streak of John Meyler, really grates.

They came close though, very close, losing to Offaly by two points, to Limerick by three, to Wexford by five.

“We were competitive without winning. That was annoying. Offaly, Limerick, Wexford, those were games we could have won but we didn’t. That’s a learning curve. Winning doesn’t just happen. You’ve got to decide to win, you’ve got to learn how to win. You have to learn how to win playing badly, especially.

“That’s why it’s so important that the likes of Carlow and Laois are left in a competitive environment where they’re learning all the time. The likes of Limerick and Offaly want to be playing Kilkenny and Tipperary but we want to be playing Limerick and Offaly and I think that’s more important. There’s a snowball effect from the structure the way it is now, it lifts the likes of Carlow and Laois.”

That’s something so often lost in the argument about expanding the top division, isn’t it? As pointed out by Meyler, it’s not all about top teams and there is no question Carlow will have benefited this year from having campaigned — even if only for one season — against so many teams from hurling’s top tier.

Will that experience be good enough to see them past Laois tomorrow? Maybe, maybe not.

“Laois was a hurling stronghold until they suffered heavy defeats to Cork and Limerick in the qualifiers in the last couple of years,” said Meyler.

“They were missing Zane Keenan and other key players for those years though and when that happens in a county like Laois, they’re in trouble. We know each other well, have met so often recently in league and championship, and there’s never very much between us.

“It probably favours Laois this Sunday, in their backyard, but our fellas are looking forward to it. There’s a big prize, Leinster semi-final against Galway, we’d love to make that.”