'There is great hurling in Carlow, it would be great to get that investment'

Carlow captain Kevin McDonald says their aim this year is to retain their Leinster SHC status.

Wed, 17 Apr, 2024 - 06:00

PJ Browne

Kevin McDonald believes there is potential to grow hurling further in Carlow. Currently, there are just six senior teams in the county, eight adult teams in all, a fact which makes their Leinster SHC status remarkable. The most fertile ground, McDonald feels, is in Carlow Town where the hurling club operates at intermediate level.

“For years it’s the case in Carlow there would have been four or five teams in the senior championship,” said Mount Leinster Rangers man, and Carlow captain, McDonald.

“At the moment maybe we’re at six so it’s still very, very few. You’re barely getting your two semi-finals, you might get a quarter-final in a few years’ time when the fifth and six teams start progressing that bit more.

"Carlow club teams, when they do get out of Carlow, they do fairly well in Leinster. We had our club getting to the All-Ireland final, winning intermediate titles before that, you had St Mullins getting to a Leinster final a few years ago against the Dublin champions as well so there is great hurling in Carlow, it would be great to get that investment and push it on that bit more.

“A lot of the hurling is in the south of the county. The top of it would be generally football and the bottom of it would be hurling so there’s definitely a chance or an opportunity there for a town team in Carlow town.

"At the moment you might have new teams coming through like Burren Rangers or Kildavin but they’re still very small teams at the moment. There definitely should be some kind of investment put in there to make sure that we get a team back in Carlow town.”

Kevin McDonald of Carlow poses for a portrait at the 'GAA; People, Objects & Stories' exhibition in the National Museum of Ireland. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

This year will be Carlow’s first back in the Leinster SHC since 2019. They won promotion after a thrilling Joe McDonagh Cup final against Offaly last year. That was followed this spring by earning promotion to Division 1B of the Allianz Hurling League.

“We won the Joe McDonagh in 2018 and won the league in 2018 as well so it was the first year that we probably got to experience Division 1 hurling and the Bob O’Keeffe in Leinster as well,” McDonald said.

“It was a big step up but at the same time we had played very well in the league that year. We played against Galway in Netwatch Cullen Park and we drew with them. That was a great result for the league but looking at Championship then, we had Galway in the very first round up in Salthill, the same as we do this time around, and we were five or six points down with a couple of minutes left and it was just one of those games where the experience of Galway showed at the very end and they got the win.”

Carlow's main aim for this year's championship is to stay up. This Sunday, they face Galway at Pearse Stadium.

“Next year we’re playing Division One hurling (1B) so it’s not the case that we can fall off now this year and then next year recoup, we’re going to have to try and stay at the highest standard for next year for the league," said McDonald.

"So our main aim for Leinster is to make sure that we stay there for next year, that we compete in a couple of these games, get the wins when we have to get the wins and hopefully, by the end that we will be after staying up for next year as well.

“It’s hard because there’s only a few players who come through every single year from those underage panels and the main thing in Carlow is we’re trying to get two or three players a year. That’s all. It is difficult.

"You have some lads there that are playing for the last 10 years. They would have played at different levels, whether it was Division Two, Division 2B, Christy Ring, we have been all over the place as such. It would be great for us in the future to go at a steady pace at the top table."