Allianz Football League Division 4

CARLOW 1-12 ANTRIM 0-12

Deliverance Day has finally arrived for the Carlow footballers who have secured the county’s first Allianz Football League promotion for over 30 years.

They had to dig deep to do it as Antrim put up a hard fight against the Barrowsiders, but Carlow were that big better than the Ulster side for most of the contest.

They led by 0-6 to 0-4 at half-time and increased their advantage to four points early in the second-half, but then a strong surge from Antrim saw them close the gap to the minimum.

Carlow struck the decisive blow of the match when Darragh Foley goaled from close range after Antrim goalkeeper Chris Kerry failed to cleanly collect a Paul Broderick free.

Antrim kept battling and points from Paddy McBride, CJ McGourty, and Odhran Eastwood gave them hope, but Carlow finally extinguished it with late scores from Jordan Morrissey and Eoghan Ruth.

A delighted Carlow manager Turlough O’Brien hailed his history-making heroes after the match.

“The mood is amazing,” he told RTE Sport. “The lads have been looking forward to this day for a long time and it has finally arrived.

“Played six and won six and promotion before the final match of the League.

“It’s a fantastic day for us and a just reward for a lot of these players who have toiled through some difficult days for Carlow football and now have the opportunity to play in Division 3.

“A lot of pieces of jigsaw are now in place for us to maximise our potential. We’re really looking forward to championship this year and playing in Division 3 next year.

“Promotion was the big aim, but it would obviously be lovely to win a (Division 4) Final, we don’t get to too many of them.

“But promotion was the big aim. For Carlow to improve we need to play higher quality teams.”