{"id":347384,"date":"2026-03-15T11:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T11:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/347384\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T11:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T11:22:08","slug":"hurling-in-march-for-benefit-of-the-wicklow-footballers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/347384\/","title":{"rendered":"Hurling in March for benefit of the Wicklow footballers"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’re unsure whether Noel McCaffrey would approve or not, but the Wicklow junior hurling championship got underway on Wednesday night and featured two potential inter-county players.<\/p>\n

On a bitterly cold evening at the exposed centre of excellence outside Rathdrum, \u00c9ire \u00d3g Greystones and Barndarrig played out a well-contested match on a very tacky pitch.<\/p>\n

\u00c9ire \u00d3g prevailed 2-10 to 0-06, not a bad result considering it was the first outing of the year and they were missing a host of their more experienced players.<\/p>\n

Both sides will most likely play their next Championship matches in July, four months from now. When hopefully the pitches are a little harder.<\/p>\n

It was close at half-time when Barndarrig withdrew Johnny Carlin, who had been dominating at midfield.<\/p>\n

The Donegal native has played League of Ireland football for Cabinteely and made his Allianz Football League debut for his county in 2025, having previously played for the Wicklow footballers.<\/p>\n

He “hurled a bit” for his home club Red Hughs and it showed as he made light of the underfoot conditions in Ballinakill, which Willie Mullins would have approved of.<\/p>\n

He also possesses a fearsome shoulder, one capable of projecting a mediocre junior hurler in his 40s through the air and over the sideline, end over end.<\/p>\n

I know this because, dear reader, I was that mediocre hurler.<\/p>\n

Trying to pick up a loose ball on the left sideline in front of the Barndarrig bench, I was focussed on the sliotar as I was struck on my right shoulder by something as solid and fast moving as an artic truck.<\/p>\n

Despite the Hanna Barbera-esque explosion of limbs I didn\u2019t think it was a foul, but the ref took pity on me as I gathered myself at the feet of the very amused Barndarrig subs and awarded us a free.<\/p>\n

No \u00c9ire \u00d3g player was sorry to see Carlin depart at half-time. He had already lasted 25 minutes longer than his team-mate Colm Brennan, who started at corner-forward but was withdrawn early in proceedings.<\/p>\n

\"15
\nJohnny Carlin previously played for Wicklow up to 2024, but needed to reregister after transferring back to his native Donegal<\/p>\n

A native of Inis M\u00f3r, it\u2019s not implausible Wednesday was the first time he had ever held a hurl. Athough it is also understood he is carrying a knock.<\/p>\n

Settled in Laragh after moving back from Australia, Brennan is training with Ois\u00edn McConville\u2019s Wicklow footballers. Carlin is also back with the Garden County after throwing his lot in with Jim McGuinness\u2019s All-Ireland finalists last year.<\/p>\n

He made his debut against Tyrone in the league at the age of 29 but found himself out of contention come Championship and can only marvel at the wealth of talent now available to McGuinness.<\/p>\n

A carpenter by trade and living in Brittas Bay, he considered playing club with Red Hughs again this year but balked at the travel involved.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t mad keen to chat after the game but I guilted him into it, reminding him he had ragdolled me in the first half. We\u2019re friends again now.<\/p>\n

Carlin\u2019s pedigree is proven and sources within the Wicklow camp say Brennan\u2019s potential is exciting, but neither were eligible to play county unless they featured in a Wicklow club championship match. Carlin is named in the panel for today\u2019s meeting with Tipperary.<\/p>\n

\"junior
\nThe official result of surely the first GAA championship match of 2026 from the Wicklow GAA website<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s how intermediate hurling club Barndarrig and \u00c9ire \u00d3g\u2019s juniors ended up playing a junior hurling championship ‘grading\u2019 match before they’d had a league game (or even a training session for many of us).<\/p>\n

Hurling sorting out football\u2019s problems \u2013 not the first time.<\/p>\n

Before the rise of Naas, before Brian Dowling arrived, before Jack Sheridan, Cathal Dowling, Muiris Curtin or David Qualter, before Kildare rose to the giddy heights of the Leinster SHC and Division 1B hurling, the only thing many associated with hurling in the Lilywhite County was Seanie Johnston\u2019s 35-second cameo for Coill Dubh on the last day of June 2012.<\/p>\n

The Cavan sharpshooter\u2019s controversial transfer to Kieran McGeeney\u2019s Kildare side was held up by the various alphabet soup committees in Croke Park, meaning he had missed the chance to line out for his new club St Kevin’s in the Kildare SFC (this is in pre-split season days).<\/p>\n

Sister club Coill Dubh eventually acquiesced to the non-hurler starting a championship match against another \u00c9ire \u00d3g (Corrachoill) in front of a large crowd in Clane.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t envisage all the rigmarole behind it and I certainly didn’t see (playing hurling championship) today,” Johnston told reporters afterwards.<\/p>\n

“I’m just happy to have everything behind me. I don’t want to be, despite what people might think, in the national press, in the Kildare press.”<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nSeanie Johnston’s 35-second hurling cameo was national news back in 2012<\/p>\n

On Wednesday there were more spectators observing underage county training than the unseasonal junior championship match taking place on the other side of the driveway at Ballinakill, while the only journalist present was struggling at wing-forward.<\/p>\n

Carlin and Brennan aren\u2019t household names (yet) and even McConville\u2019s presence doesn\u2019t bring Division 4 Wicklow into the same orbit at Geezer\u2019s Kildare in terms of national profile.<\/p>\n

Most of my team-mates didn\u2019t know or care about the unusual motive behind the game, they were just happy to get an unexpected run out.<\/p>\n

It is understood, at county board level, it was considered easier to manufacture an inconsequential hurling match than one in football \u2013 one that would have no material impact on the important championship business of late summer.<\/p>\n

Football is undoubtedly the dominant code in the Garden County with six championships from Senior down to Junior D.<\/p>\n

Approximately a dozen of the county\u2019s 40-odd clubs field hurling teams – Brennan\u2019s Laragh one of the majority who do not compete in the small ball code.<\/p>\n

So, beyond making Carlin and Brennan eligible for the county footballers, what was the upshot of Wednesday night?<\/p>\n

\u00c9ire \u00d3g\u2019s victory means they are now in a position to field a second junior team in this year\u2019s championship and our manager is optimistic that a promising batch of players from minor, coupled with enthusiasm for a more sociable level of participation hurling, may yield the numbers required.<\/p>\n

Good news for aging, mediocre wing-forwards who can\u2019t take a shoulder. And good news for Carlin and Brennan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We’re unsure whether Noel McCaffrey would approve or not, but the Wicklow junior hurling championship got underway on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-347384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}