CARLOW’S 2017 CHAMPIONSHIP came to a close yesterday evening in Netwatch Cullen Park after five games, their longest championship run since the 1944 Leinster Championship-winning team.

After wins against Wexford, London and Leitrim, and an impressive losing performance against Dublin, they ultimately bowed out, losing to Monaghan by five points.

We spoke with the local commentators from KCLR 96fm, who have followed the team to each game, and they described the injection that this championship run has given Carlow GAA, as well as pinpointing their highlights from what was a memorable championship.

KCLR’s Kevin Regan picked out Sean Murphy’s man-of-the-match performance as his highlight of the year, mentioning to his interesting match preparation to highlight the type of character he is off the pitch.

“The morning of that Dublin game he’d been out shearing 50 sheep. That’s the type of lad Sean is. He’s just a really unique character. He’s probably the only man left in Gaelic football that’s wearing his socks up to his knees.”

The support grew with each result, with a number of proud Carlovians flying to London to cheer on the team and 6,124 people packed in to Netwatch Cullen Park for the final leg last night.

The 2017 championship will be remembered in Carlow for a while, and with the age profile of the squad, next year could be just as exciting for the Barrowsiders.

‘We rattled them and there wasn’t the gap that was on the scoreboard in the end. It was very close’

‘There were nights I couldn’t sleep because I was thinking about the obstacles in our way’