Declan Carr: Ladies football ‘on cusp of an explosion’ in popularity

The 1991 All-Ireland winning hurling captain takes charge of his first competitive fixture as Tipperary ladies manager Friday evening

Aishling Moloney of Tipperary in action against Rosemary Courtney, left, and Abbie McCarey of Monaghan during the TG4 All-Ireland Senior Ladies Football Championship Round 2 match last year

New Tipperary ladies football manager Declan Carr believes the sport is “on the cusp of an explosion within the country”.

The 1991 All-Ireland winning hurling captain takes charge of his first competitive fixture as Tipperary ladies manager this evening, the Premier County in action against beaten All-Ireland finalists Cork at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in the opening game of the Lidl National League.

As the father of five daughters, Carr’s journey into ladies football management began at club level where he continues to help out with the Holycross-Ballycahill teams with whom his girls play.

The step up to inter-county level came last January, the former Tipperary U21 hurling manager filling the vacancy left by two-time All-Ireland winning intermediate boss Shane Ronayne.

Carr’s view of ladies football is that it is a “savage product”, one that is uncontaminated by blanket defences or other such approaches that prioritise caution above creativity.

He has promised not to take his Tipperary team down this road in attempting to bridge the gap to the game’s standard bearers as to do so would be to contribute to ladies football losing its “unique selling point”.

The two-time All-Ireland winner remembers watching with concern the 2019 ladies football decider between Dublin and Galway, a game of heavily packed defences and just nine scores across the hour’s fare.

It was, he says, men’s football being played by women. Thankfully, Carr adds, he hasn’t seen a game of similar likeness since.

“Ladies football is attack orientated and it is exciting, but it is high intensity too and it is going to be hard for the girls to play the way they play for 60 or 70 minutes because it is end-to-end stuff.

“Like, if you take men’s football, there are plenty of periods of rest where they maintain the ball in the middle third for 20 or 30-odd seconds. That’s a long recovery for anybody. But with the girls, it is up that end, we lose it, we get a score, or it goes dead, and then get back straight away because the opposition are coming down this way. There is a refreshing honesty with the way the game is played.

“I hope the game doesn’t get contaminated and I certainly won’t be contributing towards contaminating it or changing it. But there are some occasions where, for example, you are trying to attack in towards the goal from sharp angles and there is just no way in there, so it is getting used to bringing possession back out a bit to go at it again.

“But certainly in terms of holding the ball up and all that stuff, I don’t think they understand it, which is great, and I don’t say that in a disrespectful way. It is just not in their DNA. Their approach is; you want us to get scores, that is where we are going and that is what we are trying to do.

“So, for me, if we can maintain it, hold onto it, and nurture it, I think there is a savage product there and I do believe women’s football is on the cusp of an explosion within the country.

I see it in my own club where the numbers are exponentially growing because it is an enjoyable game to play and it is enjoyable for parents to let their kids play.

The Cork team for this evening’s Division 1 fixture, which is live on TG4, shows five changes from the side that started last December’s All-Ireland final defeat to Dublin.

2017 All-Star Emma Spillane comes in at corner-back in place of Eimear Meaney. Sara Hayes is named at midfield, with Sadhbh O’Leary, Bríd O’Sullivan, and Emma Cleary forming a new-look full-forward line.

O’Sullivan missed last year’s championship because of injury.

From the 2020 first-choice full-forward line, both Doireann and Áine Terry O’Sullivan are injured, while Saoirse Noonan has opted out of the panel this season to focus on her WNL commitments with Shelbourne.

CORK: M O’Brien; S Kelly, R Phelan, E Spillane; E O’Shea, A Kelleher, M Duggan; M O’Callaghan, S Hayes; O Finn, C O’Sullivan, H Looney; S O’Leary, B O’Sullivan, E Cleary.

TIPPERARY: L Fitzpatrick; L Spillane, M Curley, E Cronin; R Daly, C Kennedy, E Kelly; AR Kennedy, E Fitzpatrick; E Carroll, E Morrissey, A Moloney; C O’Dwyer, A Delaney, M Creedon.