Carlow play Louth in the opening round of the Leinster Senior Championship in O’Moore Park, Portlaoise on Saturday.
The venue and opposition has brought back memories for Carlow when a superb late injury-time point from Brendan Murphy gave them victory to qualify for a Leinster Semi-Final back in 2011.
Carlow haven’t built on that progression since and they continue to languish in Division 4.
They had an inconsistent league campaign losing all their home games including a heavy defeat against Louth, but did quite well away from home defeating London, Wicklow and Leitrim.
Carlow manager Turlough O’Brien has found it hard to explain the reasons for their inconsistencies, and they will need to produce their away form if they are to cause an upset on Saturday evening.
Daragh Foley has been operating at full-forward throughout the League and against Wicklow he starred scoring 0-10 – 0-5 from play – and how he performs could have a major influence in the outcome.
Carlow will require a top performance from Foley in particular to cause an upset.
Carlow and Louth commences proceedings at 5pm, and that will be followed by the clash of Laois and Wicklow at 7pm with the winners playing Dublin on the June Bank Holiday weekend in Nowlan Park, Kilkenny.
It’s €25 for stand ticket for Saturday evenings double header with €15 for the terrace, and surely the price of stand tickets will be a factor in the attendance on Saturday evening.
It’s a situation that needs to be looked at by the Leinster Council especially as it’s only a first round.