Carlow's Richard Coady pictured at the launch of the Leinster Championships.
By Cian O'Connell
Richard Coady has enjoyed delightful days and experienced demoralising defeats, but the sense of anticipation surrounding Carlow's participation in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship is difficult to avoid.
Sunday's trip to Pearse Stadium to face a Galway team sprinkled with class is precisely the environment in which Carlow crave to operate.
Under Colm Bonnar's shrewd guidance Carlow have collected the Christy Ring and Joe McDonagh Cups in the past two summers to earn their place at this level.
"I've been on a road a good while now and we've had some good days and a few bad days as well," Coady admits.
"Definitely the last three years couldn't have gone any better, to tell the truth, from being down in the Christy Ring - and no disrespect to it - and we probably would never have thought that two or three years later we'd be heading up to Salthill to play Galway in a Leinster championship match.
"So it's been really enjoyable over the last few years under Colm and we'll have some fantastic days over the next couple of years.
"We need to forget about it for this summer, we need to park it and focus on the next month or month and a half."
Few outside the Carlow camp expect them to take any scalps which means there is no major burden attached.
"There's no real pressure on our shoulders, there's no real weight on us, holding us down, I suppose," Coady states.
Richard Coady is a key performer for Carlow.
"We probably have a bit of in-house pressure maybe, just expectancy, you're just hoping yourself that it will all go as best as it can.
"But outside of the county, even outside of our group, there's no pressure no us. Everybody expects us to be the minnows of Leinster and that's expected, coming from where we are.
"Look, we can go out to hopefully enjoy ourselves, enjoy the next month and a half and hopefully get performances and come June 11, when we finish up I think, that we can look back and be happy and content with how you did.
"And look, you never know. You could get a result here or there along the way. We're just looking to do the best we can, get a level of performance and consistency and take it one step at a time.
"Hopefully we might pick up a point or two along the way."
Even when Carlow were far from competing in the Liam MacCarthy Cup Coady always felt that possibilities existed.
"I have, yeah," Coady replies. "Any GAA follower you meet wants to chat about it and anyone I've talked to is going up to Salthill to support us, they've never experienced this before and there's a huge buzz.
"All the underage teams in the county are getting a good buzz off it as well so the more we can stay where we are at the minute, if we can keep our foot on the ladder, it's hopefully going to bode well for the future of Carlow hurling.
"And look, realistically, that's hopefully the big thing, that we can sustain where we are in our development and maybe there might be another step taken in a few years time."
