"He would have been very proud" - Dunphy honours father in some style on the big stage

All the players spoke about the support which they received from the stand on Saturday. Ross Dunphy, the scorer of 1-3 was no exception.

“We are absolutely thrilled to get over the line. There is a huge Carlow crowd here and to hear the celebrating and roars at the end was unbelievable,” he said. 

A bit like his fellow Éire Óg clubman, Mark Furey, Dunphy says he sensed the drama of the occasion where Longford kept coming back at them when it looked as if Carlow were set to build up a sizeable lead.

“It was up and down. We finally got a hold of it and everyone got their money’s worth today. In fairness Longford kept coming back at us. It may not have been the best game of football we have every played but it was high-scoring and entertaining. In the end we were able to hold out at the end.” 

Off the field it has been a tough year for Dunphy. At the start of the league campaign, he lost his father, Martin, who was a superb sportsman himself and attended as many games as he possibly could.

“It was obviously in the back of my head. I wanted to do it. Obviously every year you want to get promoted but this one was a little bit more special. You would be thinking about it today. He would have been up here. He would have been very proud. Not just for myself but for everybody. It means an awful lot.”