Carlow boss pleased despite defeat
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Carlow may not be the first area which comes to mind when you think of a footballing hotbed in Ireland, but Shane Keegan wants to change all that.
Keegan, who has just started his second season managing FC Carlow in the Newstalk A Championship, sees a bright future for his club- with Airtricity League football the ultimate aim.
That aim of First Division football could be coming about sooner rather than later though, argues Keegan. “We barely missed out on it [promotion] last year, we threw it away towards the end of the season against Cobh Ramblers” he admitted. “If we can do as well as last year and just hammer home the last few games of the season I can't see why we wouldn't be pushing for promotion.”
Carlow want to be seen as the 'team of the town'- like Athlone or Longford would be- and central to that desire is a strong local contingent in the squad. “We've got quite a few local players playing with us, a few from surrounding counties like Kilkenny and Wexford as well, but the majority of them are local players. There's no reason why next season we can't be aiming to be up there in the First Division, playing our games in Carlow.”
Playing in Carlow is another big issue for this young club. Since their foundation three years ago, they have played home matches in Ballon- which is a considerable distance from Carlow town. . Playing that far away from the town proved problematic for the young club, recalls Keegan. “We were out in the countryside and it's hard to get people into their cars on a Sunday to drive 20 or 25 minutes."
But this season, the club looks set to change their home ground to a more central location as part of their bid to identify more with the people of Carlow town. "I think we've officially got our clearance now to play out of St. Pats in the town,” Keegan says enthusiastically, “which hopefully should bring the people of Carlow round to supporting us, because we've a fine young side and at our level we should do quite well.”
The success on the pitch has to come too though if the crowds are to flock to watch FC Carlow. Keegan's side lost heavily to Shelbourne in their EA Sports Cup tie, but he still is hopeful for the upcoming A Championship season. Keegan took positives from his side's 4-0 defeat to the First Division leaders on Monday night. “The main thing for us today was to get up [and] get an idea of the gameplan, an idea of the shape we wanted the lads to play in.”
The match was Carlow's first of the season and Keegan used it as part of the preparation for next Sunday's A Championship opener against Bray Wanderers. “The most important thing was to get 90 minutes under our belt before our first game against Bray next Sunday” Keegan said. “We were able to do that, we were able to get our subs in- almost all three subs got a half an hour so there's a lot of positives for us to take out, scoreline aside.”
Shels only took the lead a minute before half time, but after that the floodgates opened. Still, Keegan sees the bright side- namely his side's first-half display. “I think we were very much in the game for the first 45 minutes, I think we really put it up to them” he says.
Tactically, Carlow always had to be careful of a Shels side with attackers of the quality of Karl Bermingham, Brendan McGill and Chris Mulhall in their ranks. “We had to play quite deep, obviously they were going to have the majority of the ball and we were always going to have to counter-attack” says the Carlow manager. “We had one or two decent runs, our wingers went at their full-backs. For the last ten minutes of the first half I thought we might have nicked one and then unfortunately in the 45th minute they pulled one away. Second half- considering that was our first 90 minutes of the season we were always going to be in trouble fitness-wise. But they're a superb side” acknowledged Keegan.
Another positive from Carlow's performance was the diplay of Kevin Duncan- the goalkeeper who kept Shels at bay for most of the first half. “That's Kevin's senior debut,” explains his manager, “Kevin isn't long turned 17. His older brother (Stephen Duncan) has been involved with the panel for the last two years and was the sub keeper, he has college commitments this year so he's not 100% available.”
Keegan wasn't shy about singing the praises of his young 'keeper. “Kevin has come in and I thought for all the fantastic performances from Shels he was arguably man of the match even after a 4-0 defeat. He was fantastic.”
Keegan, who has just started his second season managing FC Carlow in the Newstalk A Championship, sees a bright future for his club- with Airtricity League football the ultimate aim.
That aim of First Division football could be coming about sooner rather than later though, argues Keegan. “We barely missed out on it [promotion] last year, we threw it away towards the end of the season against Cobh Ramblers” he admitted. “If we can do as well as last year and just hammer home the last few games of the season I can't see why we wouldn't be pushing for promotion.”
Carlow want to be seen as the 'team of the town'- like Athlone or Longford would be- and central to that desire is a strong local contingent in the squad. “We've got quite a few local players playing with us, a few from surrounding counties like Kilkenny and Wexford as well, but the majority of them are local players. There's no reason why next season we can't be aiming to be up there in the First Division, playing our games in Carlow.”
Playing in Carlow is another big issue for this young club. Since their foundation three years ago, they have played home matches in Ballon- which is a considerable distance from Carlow town. . Playing that far away from the town proved problematic for the young club, recalls Keegan. “We were out in the countryside and it's hard to get people into their cars on a Sunday to drive 20 or 25 minutes."
But this season, the club looks set to change their home ground to a more central location as part of their bid to identify more with the people of Carlow town. "I think we've officially got our clearance now to play out of St. Pats in the town,” Keegan says enthusiastically, “which hopefully should bring the people of Carlow round to supporting us, because we've a fine young side and at our level we should do quite well.”
The success on the pitch has to come too though if the crowds are to flock to watch FC Carlow. Keegan's side lost heavily to Shelbourne in their EA Sports Cup tie, but he still is hopeful for the upcoming A Championship season. Keegan took positives from his side's 4-0 defeat to the First Division leaders on Monday night. “The main thing for us today was to get up [and] get an idea of the gameplan, an idea of the shape we wanted the lads to play in.”
The match was Carlow's first of the season and Keegan used it as part of the preparation for next Sunday's A Championship opener against Bray Wanderers. “The most important thing was to get 90 minutes under our belt before our first game against Bray next Sunday” Keegan said. “We were able to do that, we were able to get our subs in- almost all three subs got a half an hour so there's a lot of positives for us to take out, scoreline aside.”
Shels only took the lead a minute before half time, but after that the floodgates opened. Still, Keegan sees the bright side- namely his side's first-half display. “I think we were very much in the game for the first 45 minutes, I think we really put it up to them” he says.
Tactically, Carlow always had to be careful of a Shels side with attackers of the quality of Karl Bermingham, Brendan McGill and Chris Mulhall in their ranks. “We had to play quite deep, obviously they were going to have the majority of the ball and we were always going to have to counter-attack” says the Carlow manager. “We had one or two decent runs, our wingers went at their full-backs. For the last ten minutes of the first half I thought we might have nicked one and then unfortunately in the 45th minute they pulled one away. Second half- considering that was our first 90 minutes of the season we were always going to be in trouble fitness-wise. But they're a superb side” acknowledged Keegan.
Another positive from Carlow's performance was the diplay of Kevin Duncan- the goalkeeper who kept Shels at bay for most of the first half. “That's Kevin's senior debut,” explains his manager, “Kevin isn't long turned 17. His older brother (Stephen Duncan) has been involved with the panel for the last two years and was the sub keeper, he has college commitments this year so he's not 100% available.”
Keegan wasn't shy about singing the praises of his young 'keeper. “Kevin has come in and I thought for all the fantastic performances from Shels he was arguably man of the match even after a 4-0 defeat. He was fantastic.”
About Niall Farrell
Niall Farrell is our correspondent at Tolka Park, covering the goings-on at Shelbourne. You can visit Niall's website for further information and contact details- niallf.net. View Full Profile