Carlow have risen

The GAA Museum turns 20 in 2018 and as part of its anniversary programme, we’re running an Instagram photography competition. With the theme ‘the GAA is in our DNA’, we invite entrants in each category to capture and share how Gaelic games are at the beating heart of Irish life. We’re looking to capture a snapshot of GAA life this summer, so images must be taken and shared between Friday 27th July to Monday 6th August 2018.

While action photos from games are welcome, you should consider going beyond this to explore the GAA’s core values of community identity, inclusiveness, respect, player welfare and teamwork.

In essence, show us what the GAA means to you.

For more detail on the GAA Museum’s 20th anniversary programme, visit www.crokepark.ie/gaamuseum20

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There are two categories - Teen (13 - 17 years) and Adult (18+ years)

Prizes

Adult (18+)

Overall winner receives:

1. A pair of tickets to a 2018 GAA All-Ireland Final of their choice (choose the Hurling or Football Final)
2. A day spent with a Sportsfile photographer.
3. Their image exhibited in GAA Museum.
4. A framed copy of your winning image at a special gala event celebrating the GAA Museum’s 20th anniversary on the 28th September.
5. A county jersey of your choice and a GAA Museum gift pack.

Three runner’s-up will receive:

• Their image exhibited in GAA Museum.
• A framed copy of your winning image at a special GAA Museum 20th Gala event in the GAA Museum on the 28th September County jersey of your choice
• A county jersey of your choice and a GAA Museum gift pack.

Teen (13 - 17 years)

Overall winner receives:

1. A pair of tickets to a 2018 GAA All-Ireland Final of their choice (choose the Hurling or Football Final)
2. A day spent with a Sportsfile photographer (accompanied by a parent / guardian).
3. Have your image exhibited in GAA Museum.
4. Be presented with a framed copy of your winning image at a special GAA Museum 20th Gala event in the GAA Museum on the 28th September (accompanied by a parent / guardian).
5. A county jersey of your choice and a GAA Museum gift pack.

Three runner’s-up will receive:

• Have your image exhibited in GAA Museum.
• Be presented with a framed copy of your winning image at a special GAA Museum 20th Gala event in the GAA Museum on the 28th September
• A county jersey of your choice and a GAA Museum gift pack.

How To Enter

Between Friday 27th July and Monday 6th August 2018, grab your camera or phone and take some shots that captures how the GAA is in our DNA. Upload your shot or shots to Instagram (maximum 5 entries per person) by following these steps:

• Caption your image in Irish or English (no more than 50 words), identifying when and where the photo was taken and explaining what the photo means to you in relation to the competition theme.
• For the entry to be valid, you must include all of the following three hashtags: #GAAMuseum20 #GAAIsInOurDNA #Adult or #Teen depending on the category you are entering
• Make sure you follow the @officalgaa account so we can contact you if you’re one of the winning shots!

Competition Guidelines / Terms & Conditions:

1. By submitting a photograph, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions and you are consenting to the use of that photograph on websites or social media owned by the GAA and GAA Museum in relation to this competition. Any photographs used will be credited to the photographer.
2. Only images relating to the theme that are taken and shared on Instagram between 9am on Friday July 27th and midnight Monday August 6th will be considered for the competition.
3. For an entry to be valid, you must caption the image, include the hashtags and follow the @officalgaa Instagram account.
4. You must own the copyright of any images you submit. Do not upload other people’s work.
5. Images uploaded on Instagram using the Hashtags will be filtered and moderated before being included in a gallery on the GAA's website.
6. Offensive material will not be included.
7. After the deadline, entries will be reviewed by panel of judges selected by the GAA Museum.
8. Winners will be notified by Friday August 10th.
9. The Hurling Final takes place on Sunday 19th August 2018 in Croke Park. The Football Final takes place on Sunday 2nd September in Croke Park.
10. You will be invited to attend a special gall event celebrating the GAA Museum’s 20th anniversary on the evening of Friday September 28th where you will be presented with a framed copy of your winning image.
11. The winning images will also go on display in the GAA Museum.

While the players enjoyed a few well-deserved beers and sang and laughed their hearts out all the way home, team manager Turlough O’Brien quietly basked in the reflected glow of their happiness.

Just like the players, he didn’t want that bus journey to ever end.

“We were going to keep going to Cork,” he laughs. “Look, it was great craic. I love to see the lads let their hair down.

“They're an absolutely fantastic bunch of lads and I'm so pleased for them because 10 or 12 of those lads have given 10 years of great service to Carlow through difficult times and never, ever flinched in their commitment to the jersey because they love representing their county.

“You hear about top players given long service to their counties which is great, but it's much easier to do it when you're winning All-Irelands than when you're battling in Division Four.

“These guys never stopped playing for Carlow so I take my hat off to them. Everything they're getting now, they deserve it.”

They have no intentions of resting on their laurels. On the contrary, they’re viewing this promotion as an important milestone in their journey rather than the final destination.

But O’Brien knows too that it’s important that everyone associated with this achievement enjoys the moment before they reset their goals again. Carlow football has had too many dark days not to savour this day in the sun now that it has finally come.

“Absolutely,” said O'Brien. “I think a lot of the fun has gone out of the game at this level.

“There's far too many people trying to knock the fun out of it, I think. We'd be very relaxed in our whole approach to how we prepare the team.

“When I say relaxed I don't mean we're being casual about it. But being realistic about it, lads have lives to lead. They have work commitments and study commitments and family events and so on, and we don't have any rules, really.

“We deal with each situation as it arises and I think we've a very, happy squad here. There's no dissent, there's no-one feeling they're getting a hard deal or anything like that.

“We're always in a good place and we're really enjoying our football. We'd nearly train seven nights a week if we could. We're all buzzing.”

Darragh Foley is quick to back his manager up on that sentiment.

It’s actually one he made himself on Twitter a month when he tweeted – ‘You either enjoy being a part of a inter county set up or not!! Nobody forcing lads to be a part of it. Gives my life a structure and drive to keep improving! Maybe we are just lucky with the management we have in place!’

His tweet caused a bit of a stir because it ran contrary to a narrative being put forward at the time by a couple of recently retired inter-county players who weren’t so enthused by their own experience at the highest level.

Foley has always regarded it as an honour to wear the Carlow jersey. He’s had to wait nine years for a day like Sunday’s, but the hard yards he’s put in along the way only made crossing that finishing line all the sweeter.

“Obviously achievements like this make all the hard work really worthwhile, but I would have always felt it was a worthwhile commitment even in the dark days,” he said.

“You’re doing something you love and you’re doing it with your best friends so it’s always been something really enjoyable for me, first and foremost.

“Obviously you have to make some sacrifices along the way and there’s a lot of talk about missing out on socialising and holidays and all of that stuff.

“But no-one is forcing you to be a part of it and what you get out of it makes it more than worth the effort.

“We’re lucky to have a great set-up now and everyone is enjoying being a part of it.

“Turlough is just a brilliant man-manager. His son is on the team so he’d have a good idea of how all the players are feeling and he’d know if we needed a bit of rest or leeway here and there.

“His organisational skills are top-class and he’s put a brilliant team around him with his selectors Tommy Wogan and Benji O’Brien; Damien Sheehan doing great work with the S&C; and Stevie Poacher an absolutely brilliant coach.

“Stevie has made a huge impact. He’s ahead of the game when it comes to coaching. And, as well as that, he’s a great guy.

“He gets on really well with all the players and for me personally he’s been a hugely positive influence.”

Having toiled for a long time without any tangible reward, Foley is determined to achieve all he can with Carlow during this window of opportunity.

Promotion was their number one target at the start of the year but everyone is determined to drive on now and finish the job by winning some silverware in Croke Park when the Division Four Final comes around.

And Foley sees no reason either why they shouldn’t be ambitious about targeting promotion from Division Three next year rather than simply trying to avoid a quick return to Division Four.

“Daniel St. Ledger is friends with one of the lads on the Clare panel and he got a text after the match congratulating us and telling us the hard work had been done by getting out of Division 4 and there was no reason why we couldn’t drive it on from here and go for promotion in Division Three next year,” said Foley.

“Teams like Clare and Tipperary that we would have bene playing against for years in Division Four have shown the progress you can make and we’d be hoping to follow their example.

“We just want to keep driving it on now. It would be massive for the county to win some silverware in Croke Park.

“And, looking ahead to the Championship, we have to be ambitious too about the Leinster Championship and target trying to reach the Super Eights.

“First of all though we have a local a local derby this weekend against Laois which we’re all looking forward and we’ll be determined to be at our best for that.”

O'Brien isn’t overlooking Sunday’s clash with Laois either. He’s keen that the team maintains the momentum they’ve built and intends to “be honest to the competition” by naming a strong team for the match.

There should a great atmosphere in Netwatch Cullen Park for the visit of Laois.

Very few Carlow supporters could make it to Belfast last weekend because of the snow but they’ll surely be there in big numbers on Sunday.

It’s in Turlough O’Brien’s nature to heap praise on the players, his backroom team, Carlow GAA, and the team’s supporters for the role they’ve played in generating the buzz that’s now humming through the county rather than blow his own trumpet.

But the truth of it is that without his passion for the cause and organisational ability then Carlow’s fortunes wouldn’t have risen to the extent they have.

When you ask him just how much it means to him personally to have played his part in their historic League promotion, it’s clear it matters a hell of a lot.

“I’m just thrilled to be involved,” he said. “My father was county secretary for 10 years and he instilled in me a great love of Carlow as a county as well as from a GAA point of view.

“The sorry part is he never got to be here himself. I suppose everything I do in the GAA, really, I think about my father all the time.

“It's emotional, it's very emotional in fairness when I think about it. I'm just thrilled to carry on the tradition in the family and to be so involved in the GAA and be part of a great county.

“The mood in Carlow has been changing perceptively over the last two years or so. They can see stirrings within the football and that we're beginning to make a move and we're beginning to represent people with a bit of pride, I suppose, and bringing back some semblance of pride to the jersey.”