Carlow claimed the Allianz Hurling League Division 2A title in March.
By Michael Devlin
Carlow's Eoin Nolan believes his side dealt adequately with the busy Joe McDonagh Cup schedule as they prepare for Sunday's Croke Park decider against Westmeath.
“We’ve kind of been used to it with playing in the Christy Ring, it’s something similar, week in, week out," Nolan says.
"The Liam McCarthy teams in the Leinster and Munster Championship, they probably weren’t used to playing every week so they were kind of unsure of what was to come.
“We knew there was only going to be a week’s turnaround, and that recovery was going to be huge and in the week in between matches you probably weren’t going to get a lot of training in. If you have your preparation done before the cup and before the League, it’s not a major bearing on the games.
“From our last game we’ve had three weeks to prepare for the Joe McDonagh final. The Joe McDonagh League was fairly tough going, it was week in, week out, and the bodies didn’t get much of a chance to recover.
“So our first week off we took the chance to wind down, let the muscles heal, and the last two weeks, we’ve been cranking it back up again.”
It’s been a memorable year thus far for Carlow GAA. The footballers earned Allianz League promotion out the bottom division of the Allianz National Football League for the first time in 33 years, only coming up short in the Division Four final against Laois by four points.
Darragh Clinton, Westmeath, and Eoin Nolan, Carlow, during the Allianz Hurling League Division 2A Final.
Then came a momentous seven point win over Kildare, their first Leinster SFC victory over the Lilleywhites since 1953. The growing positivity – ‘Carlow Rising’ - has also carried across the hurling code, according to Nolan.
“We’re a small county, so we’re all the one. There’s not that many football and hurling teams so everyone knows everyone. The buzz around the footballers and the buzz around the hurlers has all become one, and the County Board are really driving everything on. The businesses and houses around Carlow, the flags are out, it’s full of colour.”
Carlow and Westmeath are certainly no strangers, having already met three times this year. The sides had paired off in the Division 2A league opener on January 28, with Westmeath running out 0-19 to 0-15 winners.
Colm Bonnar’s men got their own back though when they met again in the league final in March, with Martin Kavanagh scoring 1-9 to spearhead Carlow to victory.
Three weeks ago, a hat-trick from corner forward James Doyle made it advantage Carlow a 3-21 to 1-21 victory over Westmeath in the Joe McDonagh group stage.
“They’re a very good outfit, they have some fantastic hurlers. In any of the games so far this year there’s only been a puck of the ball, there’s been nothing in it, they could have gone either way.
“I expect the very same on Sunday, it’ll be tight and tenacious and hard-fought. It’s all on the day, and the best team on the say will win it.”
