WE’VE BEEN LIKENED TO KILKENNY, AND THAT ANNOYED US
Carlow star insists his side deserves some respect
DANIEL St Ledger missed Jim Gavin the last time their paths were due to cross. Six weeks ago at Carlow IT, a number of heavy-hitters gathered for a coaching conference, headlined ‘Uniting a County’. Brian Cody and Martin Fogarty were there while St Ledger himself was part of a lively discussion panel with DJ Carey, among others, on the life of an inter-county player.
Dublin’s three-time All-Ireland winning manager was the star attraction, though. However, St Ledger had left the campus by the time Gavin started to impart some of his wisdom, having driven back up the M9 for training with his club, St Sylvesters.
‘It was unfortunate I didn’t get to hear him. He was very impressive by all accounts,’ St Ledger says. The informa- tive talk delivered by Gavin was at odds with the guarded approach he takes to all media duties, although the Carlow centre-back knew that already.
A few weeks after the Dubs retained Sam Maguire last October, Gavin came to St David’s CBS in Artane, where St Ledger works, and enthralled teachers and students alike. ‘I know he projects a certain image in the media but he came across as a very interesting and intelligent guy.’
Even if the narrative for tonight’s David and Goliath clash is that these two teams are coming from separate worlds, the GAA community is small enough that some of the Carlow players have rubbed shoulders with their much-vaunted opponents. St Ledger more than most, as the Kildavin native plays his football in the capital. He won’t be awestruck by spending time in Diarmuid Connolly’s company as he has done so already at club level.
St Ledger is 28 now and while he may have experienced much more pain than pleasure in Carlow’s multi-coloured jersey, there has been the rare good day — beating Wexford 13 days ago, drawing with Meath five years ago and defeating Louth back in 2011.
In his early days, he was of a generation that looked like they could shatter the county’s inferiority complex. St Ledger and Brendan Murphy were on the first Carlow minor team to reach a Leinster final in 2007, losing to a Zac Tuohy-inspired Laois by a point. Three years later, they were both part of an Under 21 side that lost to Dublin by a point in a provincial semi-final.
That Dublin side went on to win the All-Ireland with the likes of Jonny Cooper, James McCarthy and Dean Rock who will be in action in O’Moore Park this evening. But St Ledger insists that the Carlow players aren’t going to worry about Dublin and their place among the all-time greats. This is Carlow’s evening.
‘You can analyse Dublin, and how great they are, to death. There’s no point in doing that,’ he maintains. ‘Our season is not going to hinge on whether we are able to compete with Dublin. The way we are looking at it is this is an incredible opportunity for all of us, a chance to show what we can do on the national stage, against one of the greatest teams of all-time.
‘This is a shot to nothing for us. Our season won’t be defined by what happens in Portlaoise. So we are going to go out against Dublin, stick our chest out and embrace the opportunity. Embrace everything about the occasion. This is all new to us, even the fact that we are fielding calls from the media.’
Even the idea of playing on live television is something new and exciting for Carlow footballers. St Ledger reckons only Brendan Murphy has played in front of live cameras before, when he was part of Ireland’s International Rules team.
‘It might seem silly to say that, and in a lot of the bigger counties, they probably don’t even pass heed if their games are live or not, but apart from Brendan, none of us have ever played in a match that is live on television before. It is an experience none of us have had. That’s exciting and a chance to show that there are good footballers here.
‘It wasn’t so long ago that Carlow were getting lumbered with Kilkenny footballers and New York, that we were scraping the very bottom of the footballing ladder. And that was never the case. Carlow does have a great footballing tradition, we deserve a bit of respect and we can play a bit of ball. That did annoy us. We shouldn’t be bracketed alongside Kilkenny football.’
Nonetheless, it was only a couple of years ago that St Ledger, a cousin of former Ireland soccer international Sean, was demanding a complete culture change within Carlow football after they conceded 7-13 to Meath in the Championship. Turlough O’Brien arrived the following autumn and there was gradual change.
‘It has happened slowly. The structures had to be put in place first and what Turlo has done since he came in was get a settled group of players, which hasn’t always been the case, and then get us organised,’ St Ledger explains.
Last winter, O’Brien made an inspired decision to recruit highlyregarded Down native Steven Poacher as his coach. St Ledger claims that has made all the difference to Carlow this season.
‘Sometimes, you know from your first meeting with someone whether they are going to make a positive impression. And the first time that Turlo brought Stevie to meet the squad, everyone was impressed. There was a definite sense that things could work this year.
‘The clarity of his message and his plan was the big thing. And the clarity he brought to the roles he gave to each of us. Everyone understands their responsibility now and what they should be doing. If everyone has that understanding, then players are less inclined to be lazy and not track back. Down don’t know what they
This match is a shot to nothing for us
are missing with Stevie.’
It was the confidence from Poacher’s meticulous coaching sessions that ensured Carlow never wavered in their belief they would turn Wexford over two weeks ago. ‘I remember Jim McGuinness talking a few years ago about confidence in preparation. That if you believe you have prepared properly, then confidence will flow from that. And in all my years playing with Carlow, this has been the best prepared side I ever played on.’
Poacher has also instilled a more defensive framework, more associated with ‘teams up north’ as St Ledger suggests. However, if any team needed to work on defence, it was Carlow.
‘We conceded a total of 121 scores in the 2016 National League. You are going nowhere if you are conceding those sort of scores. When you are conceding 3-15 or 4-16, they drain the confidence of everyone. But if you can restrict opponents to five or six scores from play, it gives the whole team energy and confidence, not just the defenders. Energy flows through everyone.
‘We are not reinventing the wheel. It is about getting men behind the ball, working hard so your opponent doesn’t get a shot away in the scoring zone. I know it is not the most spectacular football to look at it, but at the end of the day, it is effective and getting us results. And the encouraging thing is that even with a solid defensive structure, we still scored our highest total in six years in the League this year, so we haven’t neglected the other side of our game.’
St Ledger won’t be drawn on what the summer might bring after this evening. He’ll enjoy the occasion and maybe pick up one or two war stories to bring back to Malahide for the next Sylvesters training session as Carlow savour a rare foray onto the national stage. ‘This is just a wonderful opportunity for people to see players that are never seen, like Paul Broderick who is as good a corner forward as there is around. We are looking forward to it.
‘As I said, our summer won’t be defined by our result against Dublin,’ he adds.
Still, nice to share the stage with them, if just for one night only. Nice for St Ledger to cross paths with Jim Gavin, too. He may even get a word or two with him this time.