Crotty knows that going back up will be a challenge

Last season proved to be a difficult season for Carlow. After winning Division 1B with a win over Cill Dara last May, hopes were high for them to have a big season in the highest division in Leinster. 

However, they found the going tough and a mixture of injuries, and inexperience at the top level ultimately saw them finish in the relegation play-off position, where defeat against Wexford condemned them to relegation. 

They had a good run in the Towns Cup but again fell just short, losing against Wicklow; a Ben Crotty penalty at the end fell just short of the posts in difficult conditions. 

Manager Tom Crotty says their league form in particular wasn’t good enough: “We were delighted to get to the final, it’s been a long time since we got to a final, but disappointed with the outcome. It could have gone either way. That’s cup finals. 

"We were very disappointed to be relegated out of Division 1A, that was a harder pill to take. We had a poor start, it was our first season back in Division 1A in a long time, and it took us a long time to grasp the physicality of it. There were some games we definitely should have gotten points in that we didn’t. 

"In the play-off game against Wexford, we were a bit flat going into it and things didn’t go our way, just one of those days and in a play-off like that you can’t afford to have an off day."

He knows they could have done better: “We felt like we should have given ourselves a better chance of staying up. We didn't lose games by an awful lot. That was kind of the hardest thing, we were there/thereabouts. 

"If we’d played the whole season like we did towards the end of the season we would have stayed up. It was a bitter pill to swallow. It was much harder to get relegated than lose the cup final. 

"We just didn’t perform well enough in games, we played some really great rugby, the squad is strong but we just didn’t finish out games out the way we should have and weren’t consistent enough, that’s something we need to work on this season."

He acknowledges injuries played a massive part too: “Losing Noah Cope in the first game of the season didn’t help, that’s our scrum half, so we had to juggle our backline around, we had a couple of injuries in the center and then Ben Crotty was injured so we lost our starting full back so had to shuffle things around, and we didn’t have the same backline a lot of weeks. 

"That backline has to be consistent week in week out and be near enough the same. You can afford one player to be down, but you can’t keep jigging things around. That’s something we need to look at this season, getting consistency in our starting 15. 

"You’re never going to have everybody, you should be able to afford one or two missing without having to make drastic changes. Last season we had a different backline every game which didn't help.” 

Going into the season ahead in Division 1B, Crotty says it is a fresh start but that they must learn from the mistakes of last season.

“We have to put last season behind us but we have to build on it too," he said. "Going by statistics, it is very hard for the team coming down to go straight back up, it’s very rarely done. 

"Our goal, same as every other season is to win the league but the reality is we have to finish in the top two to get promoted back up to Division 1A. The Towns Cup is obviously important but first things first we have to focus on finishing in the top two, which won’t be easy, there’s a lot of games and a lot of clubs have regrouped. 

"It’s not as physical as Division 1A but wins are hard to come by, especially away. You can get dragged into a dogfight, but what we’re trying to do is build a squad that can compete and the number one goal is to be consistent in every game.” 

There’s not been much turnaround in the Carlow squad this season, but the loss of Dan Crotty will be a big one.

“We’ve lost our two Australians who have gone back, Will Casey and Joel Brown so they’re both out. We basically have the same squad, but we’ve two ex players who have come back. 

"Everyone seems to be fit at the moment. Dan Crotty is out until nearly Christmas which is a big blow but like I said we can afford one and Noah Cope is back, we’ll have to get him up to match speed over the next couple of weeks so it won’t be as big a loss because last season we had no back up to Noah and Dan played scrum half. 

"We’ve an Australian coming in, he’s from Bagenalstown, he’s the only one from outside who’s not played from Carlow. We’ve been working hard on the culture in the club which is to not be recruiting too many from outside, our culture right or wrong is to bring through as many youths from the Minis as possible. Johnny Murphy is captain this season, he was missing for most of the first half of the season.”