Despite a defeat to Meath in the Leinster Senior Football Championship, Carlow manager Joe Murphy says he was encouraged by the spirit his side showed in Navan.
Carlow were beaten 1-30 to 0-19 in Sunday’s first-round clash against the Royal County, and now turn their attention to next month’s Tailteann Cup. While the scoreboard made for tough reading, Murphy told KCLR there were still important positives to take from the performance.
“They showed character. You know you can put in structures and you can put in game plans and you can do all the basics that you need, but you can’t build character, you can’t put character into a player,” he said.
“Even in the dressing room afterwards, they’re talking about the future and they’re talking about player-led [approaches] and they’re talking about ambition. That to me is the key—the keynote coming from today. They didn’t throw in the towel, they didn’t surrender, they dug deep and they battled right to the end. That was very pleasant and positive.”
Carlow will have a few weeks to regroup before the Tailteann Cup campaign begins, and Murphy is hopeful that the resilience shown in Navan can be a foundation to build on.
