Ed Burke: “Once we keep going, nobody’s going to beat us”
Carlow celebrate with the Leinster Junior Football Championship.
Carlow manager Ed Burke was a happy man on Saturday as he stood back and watched as his team were crowned 2026 Leinster Champions.
But Carlow were way off their best in the first half and looked like a completely different team than that which has dominated junior football all season, with Burke putting it down to the absence of two of his stalwarts.
“We were missing Clíodhna (Ní Shé) and Caoimhe (O’Neill). When you take out two of your four central players, you might not have as many options, because players are used to playing their roles, and it’s hard sometimes to get them to perform in other roles that you’re asking them to play,” the manager explained.
“So, I think it took them the 15-20 minutes to get used to saying, ‘OK, I actually need to be here, this player needs to be here.’ Because when we turned out in the first half, we saw there was no options; whereas in another game there was options.
“And it wasn’t because people did anything wrong, it was just that wasn’t normally their role in a normal game, so we had to adapt to that.
“But we said one thing before the game: I said I don’t think any team is going to beat us for fitness this year. We said, once we keep going, nobody going to beat us.
“So we knew if we get to 40 minutes and if the game is anywhere close then we’re going to absolutely murder any team who comes near us. And I think that’s what happened today.”
Carlow played like a completely different team in the second half.
“In fairness, we saw what the problems were. We had two problems: we weren’t getting in behind to link the play, and we weren’t pressing on their kickouts, he said.
“So we said to the players, just fix them two things. We’ve got a bit of a mountain to climb, but if we fix them two things and work really hard we’ll get the win. And fortunately that’s what we did.”
Burke also praised Player of the Match, Sara Doyle, as well as the younger members of his panel.
“Sara was excellent. When she’s on form you can’t stop her. I mean, that’s just the way it is. She must be one of the quickest players that I’ve ever seen playing and her control of the ball is really excellent.
“But it’s all the forwards. Kate Burke came in there today, a minor starting a Leinster final, it’s no easy going. Got a point, kept the thing going.
“Maria Healy, another minor, comes in; Megan (Townsend) was brilliant. They’re all serious forwards. And Aibha Kiernan had to change her role today from normally playing full forward to coming out in the second half and playing deep in and around the middle.
“They all just adapted, and in fairness to them, they were all super.”
Doyle led the charge in the early goings of the first half, but the St Brigid’s full forward did not really hit her stride until after the interval.
She calmly converted the penalty at the start of the second half that helped swing the momentum back in Carlow’s favour that formed part of a brilliant 1-3 in a thunderous five-minute spell.
The half-time whistle changed everything. Carlow spent the last ten minutes of the first half trying in vein to reduce the arrears, only to be sent packing time and time again.
But Carlow emerged a different team in the second half, taking just five minutes to get back in front and going on to win the half by 1-11 to 0-2. “We’ll take that,” Ed Burke remarked on the second-half turnaround.
The introduction of Maria Healy had an immediate impact on the game - just as it did one week ago when she made her senior debut off the bench against Offaly.
The 16-year-old sensation was only seconds on the field in Newbridge when the ball came her way in midfield. She took a few big strides up the pitch before weaving between two defenders before slipping the ball inside to Sarah Doyle, who added to her Player of the Match credentials when she dropped the shoulder and curled over a sublime score.
The newly crowned Leinster Junior Football Champions now set course for the All-Ireland series, where Carlow will play in Goup B.
They begin with a home tie against Limerick on Sunday, May 31st followed by a second home game against Sligo two weeks later before the finish up with an exciting trip away to London at the end of June.
