Kildare Senior hurling manager Joe Quaid is confident that Carlow will defeat Antrim in Saturday’s Christy Ring Cup Final.
Speaking to KCLR, Joe says that there is extra determination for Carlow to try and get back to Liam McCarthy Cup level.
“Look, I would give Carlow a huge chance. They are down from the Liam McCarthy last year, Antrim probably had two chances last year to get back up.
“Antrim will go in as favorites but that’s more to do with probably Antrim tradition and the GAA promoting Antrim hurling, but I would fancy Carlow.
“I think we played them twice this year and to be fair, they were superb both times we played them and there is a bit of bite in them that I think they want to get back up to Liam McCarthy level again,” he said.
Joe also went on to say that he doesn’t think the GAA are promoting hurling in the weaker counties.
“At the end of the day, the Christy Ring to me is a tournament that they want to get out of the way before the Championship starts. Like we played three matches in 14 days and we were out of the Championship.
That’s not promoting hurling, we finished the 6th of May, the next time these guys will get to play competitive hurling with their county will be the National League next year in February.
“So don’t let anybody tell you that the GAA are worried about 2nd tier counties because you have the Christy Ring Final on now the 10th(June), them two teams Carlow and Antrim finished again for the year.”