The Barrowsiders defeated Derry by eleven points in the Allianz National Hurling League on Sunday last in Netwatch Cullen Park
Carlow’s dream of promotion was dead in the water after last weekend’s defeat to Offaly but the fear of relegation was lingering around the team as they prepared for a battle against Derry on Sunday. Having suffered three defeats in the league up to last weekend Tom Mullally was hoping that his team could put in a performance and keep Carlow in the division 2A league for 2024.
A brace of goals from Conor Kehoe gave the home side an eleven-point lead at half-time, a lead that the team would not relinquish. The defence stood firm and Ciaran Abbey was excellent when called upon to help Carlow keep a clean sheet. Speaking to KCLR after the game,
Manager Tom Mullally said “It was excellent Brendan, it’s exactly what we expected, and over the course of the 70 minutes the lads responded well to the challenges put to them and I think in the first half when we got the opportunities we made the most of them”
“Missing chances last week cost us the game, Offaly converted a lot of their chances and we didn’t convert a lot of ours and as a result, they deserved to win the game overall, today we took our chances in the first half, and even when Derry came back at us in the second half any opportunity we got we took it and made the most out of it”
“Conditions weren’t good for both teams, we’ve tried to strengthen the panel over the course of the league now we’re down to the main competition of the year the Joe McDonagh Cup, and it’s to get our heads and bodies right for it, and to go at it”.
“Kildare are obviously in the league final after today’s results they’re going well and they have a settled team they have a good panel and David Herity is doing an excellent job on them and they’re going to be a massive test for us, there the first one up and they’re the form team at this level in the Country but it will be up to us to get our own house in order but we will know by the final whistle in that game exactly where we are at”.
“The last couple of years we’ve been disappointed we’ve lost out for various reasons but ultimately when you boil it down we’ve missed out for reasons that were in our own control and we’re hoping to take control this year. I know we’ve been experimenting over the course of the league experimenting with lads but we have game time in enough bodies to be able to get us right for the Joe Mcc”.
Listen back to the full interview below on Scoreline Extra
