Niall Carew takes heart from Carlow support and Tailteann Cup

As he beds into a fifth season in charge of the Carlow footballers, Niall Carew says that the backing of the county board and the impact of the Tailteann Cup were huge factors in his decision to stay at the helm.

At a period when some counties in the lower tiers of Gaelic football found it difficult to find the management teams that they wanted, Carew says he relishes the prospect of further developing Carlow's young players.

"It is a massive commitment, and it is the same for all backroom teams in Ireland," he states.

"Every manager and backroom are putting in massive hours.

"When you see a young Carlow side learn resilience and winning games at senior level and you see that they are making progress all the time then it is easy to come back.

"I was lucky to have the county board stick with me as we build a new team and the Tailteann Cup is a great competition too and has been important for us," he added.

"I would have been against it early on but Croke Park, the media, teams and players all got behind it and it is exciting and well promoted. One of our own Ross Dunphy won an All-Star too so that is massive for Carlow.

"The thing is that it is tangible, and we have an outside chance of winning it and that is important for us."

The Kildare native comes from a staunch GAA family and previously managed Sligo and Waterford, before taking over Carlow in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

This year they lost to Wicklow in the Leinster SFC before coming back against the same opposition with a fine win in the Tailteann Cup.

They reached the Tailteann quarter-finals before losing to Antrim.

Next year Carew will once again be assisted by Simon Rea, Ronan Joyce and Eamonn Callaghan.

Carew inherited a young Carlow squad that didn't