Carlow are back out in the National Football League this weekend, with that game live on KCLR from 5pm Saturday.
They travel down to the SETU Arena, Carriganore to face Waterford. Last season Netwatch Cullen Park played host to this fixture, where Niall Carew’s men secured their first points of the 2022 campaign, rebounding from their 25-point thrashing by Sligo, with a 2-12 to 2-08 victory.
Neighbours @Carlow_GAA and @wicklowgaa battled to force a draw in their opening game of the Division 4 #AllianzLeagues. Catch the highlights below with #GAANow pic.twitter.com/5gEpZpoBSn
— The GAA (@officialgaa) January 31, 2023
This year though, 14-men Carlow came back from three points behind at one stage in the second half to get the point in their first league game of the year against Wicklow.
It was no doubt a tough task, but The Barrowsiders climbed up that big hill and manager Carew attributed that to the leaders within the squad;
“We have real leaders with Daragh Foley, Conor Crowley, Mikey & Seani Bambrick, Jamie Clark, and Jordon Morrissey. Obviously, I am missing lads as well. We have real leaders.”
See also: Carlow name their panel for 2023 National Football League campaign
Carew, who previously was in charge of Waterford between 2012 to 2014, is now hoping to build momentum by picking up more points in the very competitive division;
“It is a big game next week (Against Waterford), from here on in every game gets bigger and bigger. We will see how it goes, we will be expecting to perform again and if we perform we should not be too far away.”
“Seani Bamrick just has a twinge on his hamstring, so we will have to wait to see how that is, but it seems to be a fairly clean bill of health anyway.”
Armagh All Ireland title winner Oisin McConville began his competitive tenure in charge of Wicklow in the same game, and was impressed with he performances of Carlow and singled out some players in particular;
“Carlow were good, they have a lot of threats, they have a lot of players that can do you damage. Obviously, Daragh Foley, Conor Corwley on the inside, and Ross Dunphy did well for them I thought. So they have a lot of threats. “
Listen back to full interview below, along with Eric Molloy, Darragh Foley & Willie Quinlan thoughts on Scoreline Extra: