"There is no easy game in this division" - McDonald ready to mix it with the best

The intercounty season comes around so quickly. It only seems like a couple of months ago that Carlow made their Leinster senior hurling championship exit in controversial circumstances against Antrim in Belfast. It was 4-22 to 2-22 on the day but the red card for Chris Nolan at half-time sealed the fate of the visitors.

The dismissal was a travesty but Carlow were left to dwell on what might have been. That is all water under the bridge now. The sides meet in March again and no doubt there will be no recriminations. It wasn’t Antrim’s fault that they benefitted from a dodgy refereeing decision.

Kevin McDonald is looking no further than a trip to Tullamore at the weekend. It is Laois after that. Then Waterford. Welcome to Division 1B. The two met in the 2023 Joe McDonagh Cup final in Croke Park when a harsh call saw Offaly lose a player for a helmet infringement. Carlow went on to lift the silverware. You get the breaks. Sometimes you don’t. The Rangers man won’t be thinking of any of that on Saturday. 

“Preparations are going very well. A little bit different this year in that we only started back training this year in December. We are looking forward to getting stuck into the league,” McDonald says.

“It is different in that there is no season competitions compared to before. We are looking forward to getting stuck in. We are delighted to be up in 1B this year too. “ 

He doesn’t need to be told about what is ahead of Carlow.

“There is no easy game in this division. They are all teams we have played before. Tough opposition. I was trying to think when was the last time we played Waterford. That would have been 2019 when we were up in division one before,” he recalls.

That was the year Carlow drew with Galway and Laois. It was not enough to save them and they ended up bottom of the table.

“Great games in the Leinster championship against Antrim and Dublin. The other teams, we have played them numerous times before. It will be a great competition hopefully.” 

Even though it is an opening game, Offaly confidence has to be soaring. They are the Joe McDonagh Cup holders and went on to score 3-19 against Cork in the All-Ireland series before losing by nine points. They won a maiden under 20 hurling title so they have to be favourites.

“There is nothing between us. Offaly are going very well. They are on an upward spiral at the moment. They have a brilliant crop of young players coming through. We are looking forward to heading up to O’Connor Park at the weekend,” says the defiant Rangers man who is not fazed by about how quickly the games come around.

“You never get much of a break. Once you were finished with the county, you are back in with the club. With Mount Leinster Rangers, we finished up with the club championship a bit earlier than we would have liked to so we had a long break off.

“Still, it only feels like a couple of weeks ago since we were up in Antrim playing them in the last round of the Leinster championship. We feel we didn’t do ourselves justice considering how well we had played in that campaign. That is sport for you but hopefully we can bounce back and we have the league first before we can think about championship. There are some great games coming up.” 

Apart from the retired Conor Lawlor and Jack Kavanagh, Carlow are picking from a full-strength panel. They have played practice games against DCU and Meath. There is no Walsh Cup this year. McDonald has mixed opinions about that.

“With the pre-season tournament games gone, challenge games have taken over but we won’t really know where we are until after we play Offaly in our first game,” he reasons.

“I was happy that those pre-season games were gone but they were a great chance for the full panel to go out against county teams and build up your preparation. It gets match fitness into lads. Both teams are in the same scenario.”