Mac backs Carlow to play part
KEVIN MCDONALD believes that Carlow are better placed to compete in the Leinster Championship now compared to 2019.
Five years ago, Carlow replaced Offaly in the province after winning the Joe Mcdonagh Cup and while they were reasonably competitive in their opening game against Galway, which they lost by six points, subsequent defeats to Kilkenny, Dublin and
Wexford were all by double digits as they were swiftly relegated.
They start this year’s campaign with another difficult away assignment against Galway on Sunday.
“It’s not going to be as much of a shock,” says Mcdonald, who was part of the side in 2019.
“It probably is the case that we deserved to go back down because we weren’t ready.
“We went through a transition two or three years ago with Tom Mullally coming in, he brought in new lads from under-20 and from minor, those lads now, they’re in the starting 15 so it will be new to them but there is plenty of experience and youth in the team so we’re looking forward to the Leinster Championship and see how we get on.”
The competition is structured differently compared to five years ago, with six teams in Leinster now rather than five, making it less cutthroat. Carlow will be confident that they can compete on an equal footing with Antrim, while they gave Dublin a fright in last year’s All-ireland preliminary quarter-final.
“We would have had great games against Antrim throughout the years. We would have had great battles with Dublin as well. I know we haven’t pipped them yet, we haven’t got the win against them in a proper Championship game but they’re teams that we have played against before, lads have experience playing them so it’s nothing to fear too much but it will be another step up from where we were last year.”