Carlow county football team


The Carlow county football team represents Carlow in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Carlow GAA, the County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team compete in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Leinster Senior Football Championship and the National Football League.
Carlow's home ground is Dr Cullen Park, Carlow. The team's manager is Turlough O'Brien.
The team last won the Leinster Senior Championship in 1944, but have never won the All-Ireland Senior Championship or the National League.

History

Carlow have claimed very few honours at senior level. They won a Leinster title in 1944. The final was played in Athy due to the war and Carlow beat Dublin by 2-6 to 1-6. Carlow also lost Leinster finals in 1941 and 1942 to the same opposition. Kerry fisherman-publican Paddy "Bawn" Brosnan kept Carlow from reaching an All-Ireland final in 1944. His second half goal put Carlow out of the All-Ireland semi-final by 3-3 to 0-10.
Ten years later Carlow reached the National League final with a famous 1-10 to 1-7 win over Armagh, but were well beaten by Mayo in the final.
Carlow won a 'B' All-Ireland in 1994, and an O'Byrne Cup in 2002. They defeated Wicklow by 2-10 to 0-8.
Other significant performances include reaching the Leinster Minor Football Championship final in 2007, when they lost to Laois. The Carlow Vocational Schools team won the VEC All Ireland Championship in 1973, while Carlow CBS won a B All Ireland in Croke Park in 2015. An Under-21 team that came within a point of beating Dublin in 1984.
In the 1980-81 National League Carlow once fielded a one-club selection so that Éire Óg could prepare for their first Leinster Club final. Tommy Dwyer, at 6'7, was one of the tallest midfielders in GAA history.
Carlow played Laois in a first round qualifier in 2013 — the first Friday night game in the history of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.
In 2018, Paul Broderick was nominated for an All-Star, becoming the first Carlow player to receive such an honour since Colm Hayden in 1994, the year Carlow won the All-Ireland B championship.

Current squad

Squad as per Carlow v Dublin, Leinster Football Championship Quarter-Final Round 3 June 2017

Honours

All Irelands
Provincials
National League