RTE fulfilled their public sector remit by sending a commentator and a co-commentator down to Pearse Park to watch Longford play at home to Carlow.
Following their seventeen point defeat to Laois in the Leinster first round, Carlow went down by ten points against Longford, the same Longford that couldn't quite get within 25 points of Dublin. It does beg the question. Just how bad are Carlow?
It would be quite an experiment to put Carlow up against Dublin. What would the scoreline be? The mind boggles.
Tommy Carr was lost in admiration for the players who keep going in the face of such despair.
I'm looking out at the Carlow players and you can only feel sympathy for them. How they soldier on in a county jersey knowing they're never going to win a Leinster title. They play like that, they think like that, it's not their fault.
These young fellas when they're growing up, they don't dream about playing in front of 50 or 60,000...
He disagreed it was down to the system. Giving a team like Carlow more games will only give them more chances to be hammered. Carr thinks it's time to stop the slaughter.
It's not about games. We're talking about giving them more games. For what? They're not as talented, they're not coached as well, they don't have the resources.
Brian Carthy tried to persuade Carr of the worth of the county jersey with romantic talk. Words like 'pride' and 'honour' were prominent. Carr wasn't moved by it.
They wont put in the same level of effort because they know they're not going to win anything. But the counties need to them put in more effort than the other teams. The motivation to play for your county, you need something
Carthy said he disagreed fundamentally with Carr's contention that they don't put in the same level of effort. Undeterred, Carr stood over his claim.
They don't really, Brian. They turn up the same number of times. And they do the same level of training. But they're not applying themselves in the same way as the top counties.
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