Carlow hurling captain Marty Kavanagh
By William Dunne
Carlow hurling captain Marty Kavanagh hopes it will be fourth time lucky for the Barrow-siders when they play Antrim in Saturday's Christy Ring Cup Final.
The teams have clashed on three occasions already this year, with Carlow failing to win any of those games.
The best they did was a draw in Round 2 of Division 2A of the Allianz Hurling League, but that was followed by narrow defeats in the 2A Final and the first round of the Christy Ring Cup.
Tomorrow's game offers the perfect chance of vengeance, though for Kavanagh the main prize on offer is the qualification for the Liam MacCarthy Cup a victory would earn the winners.
“We got relegated last year, massively disappointed and we want to be playing in the Liam MacCarthy so we aimed for this this year, it was the most important one to win and we're only 70 minutes away from doing that now," said Kavanagh.
“It's our fourth time now (playing Antrim this year), there's been nothing in it the three days. It didn't happen for us on any of the days but in fairness to them, they are a serious team.
“We were six or seven points up against them and they kept coming back and eventually got over the line so we know what we're going to get Saturday and it'll be close again.
“We're just hoping to get a bit of luck or a bounce of ball on the day.”
Whoever wins tomorrow's Christy Ring Cup Final will then play Laois in the Preliminary Round of the All-Ireland Hurling Championship.
Marty Kavanagh is a key man for the Carlow hurlers.
That's a prospect Kavanagh believes both Carlow and Antrim would relish.
“Whoever comes out of it Saturday, they'd fancy taking Laois," he says. “It's great that it's not over after Saturday if you win, you can keep going on.
“Whoever comes out Saturday, you'd fancy beating Laois and you could go on for another couple of weeks then.
“If you get a run, you never know what might happen and maybe a home draw as well, who knows?
Carlow’s under 21 hurlers have certainly built a respectable reputation for themselves in recent years with a win over Dublin in 2013 and being narrowly fended off by Kilkenny two years later - a game where Kavanagh scored two points.
That fearlessness and self-belief is transcending into the senior panel and, at only the age of 22 himself, Kavanagh says that the young guns are at the spine of the team.
“We're after getting to five of the last six Leinster U-21 semi-finals, that's a big thing in Carlow.
“We could've got to a final a few years ago, beaten by Kilkenny by two points and Laois beat us by two points a few years back as well.
“It's a good group and the 21s are kind of coming to the fore now and backboning the team and you have a few of the older heads too which helps as well. It'd be a massive thing if we could win Saturday.”
