Sansom hoping that Regional Championships can continue to grow
Brian McGuire of sponsors CENTAL, with some of the players who will compete in the Regional Championships Photo: Pat Ahern
The Carlow Regional GAA underage championships are set to return. Last year, it was an experimental venture into the unknown concentrating solely on football but such was the success of the games that Carlow GAA have added hurling this year.
The competitions will be sponsored by local firm, Cental, who have already backed the underage championships in Carlow.
Carlow Davin emerged victorious last year beating Palatine and the Carlow Colts beat North Nally in the Under 16 B Final.
“We are looking to growing and building on what was a huge success for us last year. Really looking forward after a huge success last year. We are adding under 15 hurling this year,” said Robert Sansom the Head of Coaching and Games in Carlow.
“There are slight changes where we don’t have the Carlow Colts but do have four Carlow regions. Kilkenny are coming up for the football and Éire Óg are on their own as they are the under 16 champions,” Sansom explained.
For the hurling competitions, there will be three regional Carlow teams while a South Kildare team and Barrow Rangers of Paulstown will also play.
“All the hurling will be on Thursday. Games will be on at 7.15 and 8.00pm. All the football on a Friday night with three games a night,” explained Sansom.
Games will take place every week with the finals scheduled for the first week of December. Sansom says, the clubs have bought into the regional concept.
“This is a great help for us. When we looked for any details the clubs were on to us straightaway. We are very lucky. There is a huge interest in this in Carlow and we have to maximise the interest and get players playing to a high level,” noted Sansom.
