Tough opening round in store for Carlow
James Doyle knows from battles through the years that Carlow will get nothing easy from Down on Saturday Photo: Pat Ahern
Joint captain, James Doyle, with his St Mullins clubman, Marty Kavanagh, has done it all with club and county. He has pocketed two Joe McDonagh Cup medals and the fact that he has leadership roles this year is a fair indication of how he is perceived with club and county. Despite having won as much as he has, he says he never tires of playing for Carlow. He is embracing this year’s Joe McDonagh Cup and looks forward to renewing rivalry with Down, Laois, Westmeath, Kildare and Kerry. Laois and Westmeath are former winners. Kerry lost three finals in a row from 2020-2022. The intensity of the competition drives Doyle.
“When you are playing, all the games are so close. That is what makes it so enjoyable. You don’t know what is going to happen every day you go out. Each team is at the same standard and that is great to be fair,” the St Mullins man articulates.
The first big test is Down in Carlow on Saturday. Some weeks ago, they showed their mettle when beating Kildare in the Division 2 league final.
“Even without them winning the league, any time you play Down you can find it so difficult. They have been up and coming over the last few years. They are reaching their peak now especially after winning the league. They are going to be such a hard time to beat. We are under no illusion what they can bring coming to Carlow. Next Saturday, we are in for a tough, tough battle,” the joint captain predicts.
Doyle does accept that home advantage helps here but says players cope better now with travelling where roads are good.
“I think any county who, when they are playing on their home ground, and don’t have to do that travel it is a help but over the years all these times are used to travelling to games. We will take the home games as they are. They will probably come down on Friday night. They will be on a huge high after winning the league,” suggests Doyle.
After that it is on challenges against Kerry. Laois, Westmeath and Kildare. All massive games.
“To be honest with you, we are just focussing on Down. We know all the other teams in the Joe McDonagh but since the league is over, we have been just focussing on Down. There is no point in looking at other games,” says Doyle who hopes the league has prepared Carlow well.
“Every team is in good form. Overall, it was a decent league for us. One or two games didn’t go our way. We got a few weeks of a break coming into the Joe McDonagh which helped some of our lads to get rid of any niggles. It is just looking forward to getting started now.”
After losing two of their three opening games to Kerry and Antrim, Carlow needed to win in Carlow The home side got off to the perfect start with Marty Kavanagh, John Michael Nolan, Sean Murphy, Chris Nolan and Conor Kehoe all raising white flags.
At the break the eventual winners led 015 to 0-7..
The game burst into life on 42 minutes when Daithi Sands was on hand to find the net from close range.
Three more points asked a question of Carlow. The home team responded well drawing a succession of frees which Kavanagh converted. Goals from Conor Kehoe and Kavanagh all but settled matters.
Scorers for Carlow: M Kavanagh 1-13 (10fs 65), C Kehoe 1-2, S Murphy 0-5, JM Nolan 0-3, C Nolan, R Coady 0-1 each.
Carlow: Brian Tracey; Jack McCullagh, Paul Doyle, Michael Doyle; Fiachra Fitzpatrick, Diarmuid Byrne, Jack Kavanagh; Kevin McDonald, Richard Coady; Sean Murphy, Chris Nolan, Conor Kehoe; Paul Coady, John Michael Nolan, Marty Kavanagh.
Subs: Gary Lawlor for McCullagh (53), Jon Nolan for C Nolan (56), Ted Joyce for M Kavanagh (68), Ciaran Kavanagh for P Coady (72).
On the first weekend in May, Carlow made this trip to Ballycran look easy when they ran out convincing winners on the scoreboard. In fact, this was not the case as goalkeeper, Brian Tracey, made a string of fine saves including a penalty. Conor Kehoe scored an early Carlow goal and Chris Nolan two first half three-pointers. Marty Kavanagh scored a fourth as the eventual winners led 4-14 to 0-11 at the interval.
Jon Nolan and James Doyle also found the Down net in the second half to seal a convincing win.
Carlow Scorers: Martin Kavanagh 1-11 (7fs), Chris Nolan 2-4, Jon Nolan 1-2, James Doyle 1-1, Conor Kehoe 1-0, Fiachra Fitzpatrick 0-2, John Michael Nolan, Kevin McDonald and Diarmuid Byrne 0-1 each.
Carlow overcame the setback of conceding two goals in the space of 30 seconds in the second half to eventually win by five points to secure promotion to Division 1B at Netwatch Cullen Park.
Last year’s McDonagh Cup winners led by nine points at one stage during the first half but were pushed all the way by a dogged Down outfit before Jake Doyle’s 61st minute goal eventually helped to get over the line.
Marty Kavanagh scored an early penalty and James Doyle added a second before half-time.
In a tight second half, Carlow held on to secure the victory.
Carlow: Brian Tracey; Paul Doyle, Conor Lawlor, Jack McCullagh (0-01), Tony Lawlor, Kevin McDonald, Niall Bolger; Fiach O’Toole, James Doyle (1-01); Conor Kehoe, Fiachra Fitzpatrick (0-01), Marty Kavanagh (1-07, 1 pen, 6f), John Nolan (0-01), Chris Nolan (0-03), John Michael Nolan (0-05).
Subs: Jake Doyle (1-0) for JM Nolan, h/t; Sean Joyce for Lawlor, 51; Jack Kavanagh for James Doyle, 56; Richard Coady for O’Toole, 70+4.
Manager: Tom Mullally
Recent Form: Didn’t look out of their depth in many of their games in the one year they spent in the Leinster Senior Championship and having won this competition in 2023 they will be expected to be there or thereabouts again. A solid league campaign should prove to be an ideal platform for Championship. The two games against the Division 2 finalists, Down and Kildare, if Carlow can get maximum points from those games, along with a trip to Kerry in between, then they would likely only need to win one of their remaining games against Laois and Down to reach the Croke Park decider.
Fixture: Saturday, 19 April
Venue: Netwatch Cullen Park
Manager: Ronan Sheehan
Recent Form: Meath beat them but they still went on to top the NHL2A table and were promoted. They beat Kildare in the league final. Tom McGrattan scored 4-56 in six games. In the 2024 Joe McDonagh Cup they finished second last in the group winning once and drawing another.
Fixture: Sunday 27 April
Venue: Austin Stack Park
Manager: John Griffin becomes the first Kerry man to manage his native county.
Recent Form: They had an indifferent NHL 2 campaign winning three of their six games. Podge Boyle was their leading scorer with 1-35 in three games. They won three games in the Joe McDonagh last season and finished third in the group.
Fixture: Sunday 11 May
Venue: Carlow venue Manager: Brian Dowling
Recent Form: With five wins out of six NHL 2 games, they were promoted. They lost the league final to Down. David Qualter scored 1-65 in seven games. They topped the 2024 Christy Ring Cup table with five wins and beat Derry in the final to win promotion.
Fixture: Sunday 18 May
Venue: Westmeath venue
Manager: Seoirse Bulfin Recent Form: Despite beating Carlow in their final NHL 1B game they were relegated. On 2-42, David Williams was their leading scorer in six games. Last year they enjoyed a 50% record in the Joe McDonagh winning twice and drawing once.
Fixture: Sunday 25 May
Venue: Carlow venue
Manager: Tommy Fitzgerald
Recent Form: They won only one game in their NHL 1B campaign, finished second from the bottom and were relegated. With 43 points, in six games, Aaron Dunphy was his side’s leading league scorer. The topped the table in the 2024 Joe McDonagh Cup winning four games but they lost the final to Offaly.
