Heartache for Carlow Pool as All-Ireland dreams end in a shootout
The Carlow 'A' team that reached the All-Ireland Junior Shield Final.
Carlow came within a whisper of creating history last week, only to lose the Irish Pool Association’s All-Ireland Junior Shield final in heartbreaking fashion after the decider came down to a one-frame shootout.
But while there was to be no fairytale in the team events, John Lawlor ensured that Carlow did not leave empty-handed, taking home the All-Ireland Junior Singles title.
The IPA Festival of Pool 2026 took place over five days at The Gleneagle in Killarney, with games being played on over 40 tables for the first few days at the Kerry venue.
Carlow Pool Association sent four teams to this year’s event, an achievement the club described as “a testament to all the work done,” adding, “these small victories alone mean a lot to the committee and show the regrowth in the county.” The statement continued: “An extremely proud season for Carlow, everyone gave their full effort and can only learn from these experiences, the committee would like to express their gratitude to all the players, sponsors and supporters this year, all the positivity makes doing our jobs worthwhile. We hope to see you all for the new season starting very soon.”
Wins over Wicklow ‘B’ and Cork ‘C’ were not enough for Carlow to emerge from Group A of the All-Ireland Junior Championship following defeats to Westmeath ‘B’ and Leitrim ‘B’.
Third place in the group earned Carlow passage into the Shield, however, where incredibly the quarter-final, semi-final and final all finished nine frames apiece and required the tension of a one-frame shootout to decide the winner.
Th Carlow players nominated David Earle to represent them each time, and while he got the job done in the quarters and semis, the final against Limerick proved that one step too far.
In the Junior B Championship, Carlow pulled off impressive wins over Cork ‘D’ and Limerick ‘C’, but a disappointing defeat in the final game against a Donegal ‘D’ team with nothing to play for meant Carlow missed out on a place in the knockouts.
They did move on to the Plate, but they were forced to play the preliminary quarter-final directly after the heartache of the Donegal defeat, and before they knew it the dream of silverware had gone.
The Carlow Ladies team of Jen Ardill, Courtney Perse, Bryana Donnelly, Megan Brennan and Tasha Bolger made their All-Ireland debut in Group B, where a win over Wexford ‘B’ in the opening game provided the dream start. Defeats to Cavan, Antrim, Kildare and Donegal spelled the end for Carlow, but coach John Kelly found the silver lining.
“The plan was go down there for experience - that was the key, to see if they actually liked it, enjoyed it and wanted to play in it more,” he said.
“We went there with five on the team - which is two too many. You don't really want too many subs, you'd rather go down with six players and have two teams. But they went in and won the first game, which is a great achievement when you consider that they're playing against experienced sides.
“I did promise to give everyone games, so that's what we did - we went with that option of paying people, to give them the experience for the years ahead, because this was really a set-up for the years still to come.”
The O50s were drawn in Group C alongside their Down, Donegal and Meath counterparts. Carlow played well at times and introduced “a few new faces” to competitive pool, but narrowly missed out on a place in the knockouts.
While Carlow have not been able to crack the team events, the county has had sustained success in the singles championships. Ger O’Mara won the All-Ireland Junior B Singles title in 2024, with David Earle victorious at the same grade in 2025.
John Lawlor was one grade higher as he went on to claim the 2026 Junior Singles title to complete a spectacular three-in-a-row for Carlow.
"Ideally you're going down there for a team event. Everyone looks at the singles as a kind of a side event. It's not the one you go down for, it's the team (events) you go down for, but you don't shy away from trying to win a singles title either - and that's three years in a row to bring back a trophy to Carlow – it’s incredible," John Kelly noted.
