THE summer of 1988 is remembered within Irish sporting circles for a famous win over an old rival, a feeling that hasn’t been enjoyed since.
For most who were around Ireland at that time, that period evokes memories of Peter Shilton grasping at the Gelsenkirchen air as Ray Houghton’s header delightfully looped over him and into the English net but for those within Carlow GAA circles the most memorable win of that summer occurred just a few weeks before that famous victory over the English.
Carlow hadn’t beaten their neighbours in senior championship football before Joe Hayden put the ball in the Laois net with just two minutes to go to secure a 3-5 to 2-7 win, the first in the championship against Laois since 1961. That feeling of getting one over their near rivals in the heat of championship battle is one that Carlow haven’t enjoyed since.
Even though he is by far the most experienced player on the current Carlow team, even Darragh Foley wasn’t born at the time that Hayden wrote himself into Carlow GAA folklore and he admits that he has suffered too much at the hands of Laois through his lengthy Carlow career and that it would be a good time to put that record right on Sunday when the teams meet in the Tailteann Cup in Portlaoise.
“This weekend would be the best time to do that” said Foley, who if picked will make his 160th appearance for the Carlow senior team on Sunday, second only to one of the heroes of the 1988 team – Johnny Nevin.
“It would give everybody in Carlow GAA, especially in the football circles, a big boost. I’ve been on the receiving end of it a lot of times against Laois and they just seem to be the monkey on our back. Hopefully Sunday is the day we can turn that around,” added Foley.
Carlow captain Darragh Foley with the Tailteann Cup at Croke Cup
Photo: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Carlow’s latest defeat to Laois came during this year’s National League and in many ways that game summed up the season so far for Niall Carew’s team. There was a promising start, by scoring the first five points, but ultimately the game slipped away from Carlow as they drifted out of the game – just as they drifted out of the Division 4 promotion race before a disastrous Leinster Championship defeat to Wexford.
“In fairness to Laois, they were the most impressive team we played in the league, along with Wexford who we thought were very strong as well, but we know we can compete with them. We know where we went wrong and hopefully we can rectify that. It’s going to be a different game in different conditions this weekend but one that we are really looking forward to and hopefully we can turn it around,” said Foley.
Carlow captain Darragh Foley with Laois’ Evan O’Carroll with the Tailteann Cup in Croke Park
Photo: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Back to full fitness now, the Kilbride man was nothing than a frustrated spectator for the heavy defeat against Wexford in the Leinster Championship and although that is a game that Carlow quickly put behind them, Foley said there were elements of the performance that they will be keen to ensure never occur again.
“We were given a week off after that game and although we quickly put it behind us, it’s not that we completely forgot about it. We probably downed tools a bit too easy. As a Carlow person going to see the matches you expect to see the lads giving it everything. That’s what we said, hopefully we’ll never see a drop off like that again in the future, no matter how a game is going that we keep pushing on and trying our best and we want to right a lot of wrongs in the next few weeks.
“I felt for the lads because it was a young team out there and we were lacking a little bit of leadership maybe, we were down Jordan Morrissey as well and maybe with just one or two tweaks we could have made would have shored up the shop. It was one that was very frustrating but we put it to bed very quickly and turned our focus to the Tailteann Cup and we’re really looking forward to the weeks ahead,” he said.
With Foley in the stands and Morrissey away travelling, it was the first Carlow starting line up that contain no player from the Turlough O’Brien era, emphasising the transitional nature of the job since Niall Carew took over in August 2020.
“Niall and his team have done a lot of great work. They’ve blooded in a lot of new lads and there is a lot of talent coming through. We haven’t had a minor or under 20 team come through that has been successful and got to provincial semi-finals or finals. We’re picking up lads off the teams coming through and the lads have done great work to develop them into the footballers they are. We had a very positive league campaign. We were right in the mix until Round 6. Unfortunately, the league game against Wexford put us out of contention and then it was disappointing the way the championship game turned out,” he said.
Under Carew, Carlow have tended to turn in their best displays in the summer and Foley believes that is no coincidence and that the improving pitches will help bring the best from the young squad.
“Hopefully now the good weather coming will suit our profile of player, we have a lot of explosive players and the winter months might not suit us as much. We are really looking forward to the weeks ahead and trying to put our best foot forward. Hopefully we get a bounce like we did last year and go on to the latter stages.
“This is the time of year that you want to be playing your football. Going out and trying to do yourself and everybody else proud and hopefully we can do that on Sunday,” said Foley.
A repeat of the famous win in 1988 would do nicely.
