Carlow travel to Tullamore with hopes of topping Tailteann Cup group

Tailteann Cup Round 3

Carlow v Longford, 

O’Connor Park, Tullamore, 

Sunday 1 June, 1.45pm.

For the first time in quite a while, the Carlow senior footballers will go into a competitive game with the weight of expectation on their shoulders. An away win against Fermanagh and a home draw against Wexford has been a huge lift for the squad.

In contrast, their opponents, Longford, have shipped two defeats in Division 4 of the competition conceding 2-19 to Fermanagh and 2-24 from Wexford. The Midlanders are in a bad place at the moment. Throw in the not insignificant last time they met in this competition when Carlow beat Longford by 2-13 to 1-14 in Portlaoise.

The arrival of new manager, Joe Murphy, has reignited Carlow spirits and this was obvious to see after the draw against Wexford when the Éire Óg man shook the hands of each and every one of the squad as they returned to the dressing room. Word did filter through that under Shane Curran, training sessions were chaotic but this will never be the case under Murphy.

It should be noted that many of the players who stepped away from training sessions under the previous manager have returned to experience a new regime. Now, by all accounts, training under Murphy, is enjoyable and constructive. Former Carlow captain, Darragh Foley, also came out of retirement and while he has been quiet enough so far, one feels that as the Kilbride man acclimatises to the new rules, he will have something to offer to the Carlow set-up.

Murphy has made positional changes to the team. Who would ever have thought that the speedy Paddy McDonnell would end up playing deep in defence but he has settled in well after only two games. Niall Hickey, who was initially a fringe player, is now cementing the defence from centre-half back. Sean Murphy from Fenagh brings pace and bite to an attack. Mike Bambrick continues to do as much while the likes of Ross Dunphy, Conor Crowley and Kevin Murphy all are feeding off the two.

The old cliché which states that two swallows doesn’t make a summer is relevant here. Yet when is the last time Carlow went through the group stages of a competition unbeaten? This is a tantalising possibility now.

Carlow GAA supporters do travel in numbers when their teams are going well. The footballers are flying at the moment and are playing some great football. All roads from the second smallest county in Ireland should lead to Tullamore on Sunday.

Going into the game, Carlow are level on points at the top of the table with Wexford but the men from the south east have the advantage on scoring difference so if both teams were to win, Carlow would have to beat Wexford's winning margin by six points to top the group.