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Carlow Town are in the semi-final of the Kilkenny junior league. Recently, Kildavin-Clonegal were too good for them in the Bolger Shield final. Small steps, admittedly, but the club is determined to get back hurling at senior level. 
Former Carlow senior hurler, Shaun McMahon, is training the intermediate team and with many of the players who have enjoyed success at underage level, these young men could back-bone the club's ambition.
He didn't nominate anyone to come on the podcast next week just yet but watch this space for further information. 
 

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Pat Ahern was a top inter-county senior hurling referee officiating at games in all four provinces. Leo McGough was, for him, a late starter to travelling to Northern Ireland. While it was years apart, both had experiences about what it must have been like to play hurling in the North where carrying a hurl defined what your religious and political beliefs may have been. 
Pat Ahern Photography

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Sean Buggy is a dual-status underage sports man who plays for Palatine GFC and Carlow Town Hurling Club. 
He has had disappointment of losing an under 20 football final  with Palatine against Éire Og but there was joy earlier in 2023 when he featured on the Carlow Town hurling team which clinched the under 20 B championship. 
During Covid, he was part of a small group of young good-humoured GAA followers,   calling themselves the Carlow Ultras,  who built  a platform outside Netwatch Cullen Park so that they see above the wall and  cheer on the county teams. 
The young teenagers also hired a bus and went to see the Carlow footballers play in Tullamore where they prevailed on a kindly steward to let them in free of charge. 
In the middle of studying for the Leaving Cert Now, life is all in front of him and Sean is happy to be  mixing his studies with his love of GAA games.

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Askea GFC teenager, John Phiri, has been on the Carlow senior football panel since the start of the year where he made O'Byrne Cup and NFL 4 debuts this season. 
He loves his sport and plays with a smile on his face. 
When Carlow came from eight points down to draw with Laois in the first round of the Tailteann Cup,  John came into the action in the final quarter. In this interview, he says he never doubted that Carlow could get back into the game. 
On or off the field, he is instantly recognisable  because of his dreadlocks and here he gives a brief history as to how they came about. He has loads to say and has nominated his choice of guest for next week's podcast. 

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For the first time in a senior hurling championship game, Carlow avoided defeat to the mighty Kilkenny when Marty Kavanagh fired over a 75th minute equaliser. Listen to what Pat Ahern of Pat Ahern Photography has to say.  From his vantage point on the pitch, he sees and hears a lot more than the person in the stand. 
Also,  a normally cool Hurling Hobo (Leo McGough) becomes emotional as he looks back at the game where Carlow fought to the end and reflects on the work in the clubs which made all this possible. 
Photo: Pat Ahern Photography

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Grange footballer, Tom Dillon with Alex Delaney, was joint captain of the Carlow under 20 football  team this year.  They played some great football in the Leinster championship but results didn't go their way. 
Only eighteen years of age, he already has a vision for underage football in the county.  He says the under 20 football championship must be played off a lot sooner if Carlow is to get the full benefit of some good footballers who are coming through. 
Last year he was part of the management team which helped Grange win an underage 13s title. Club stalwarts, John Doyle and John Murphy, are the players Tom looked up to as he came through into the intermediate side. Now, he wants to be role models for young teenagers who play their football in Grange. 
The podcast is taking a different direction this week and Tom nominates who he would like to see being interviewed next week. 
Photographs: Pat Ahern Photography

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A GAA man? A soccer man? 
Bernard Mullen is Chairperson of Tinryland GFC and vice-Chairperson of the Carlow Soccer League. He gives his all to both.
From Westmeath he won two All-Ireland senior football college titles with Carmelite College in Athlone. He went on to play underage football with Westmeath and with the support and blessing of his parents, who would have been traditional GAA stock,  he also dabbled with League of Ireland soccer in Athlone Town.
He married a Carlow girl but before he eventually settled on Barrowside they spent eight years in Australia where his love of all things GAA was nourished and maintained. 
Former Tinryland manager, Stephen O'Meara, may have come in for some criticism in relation to the style of play in Tinryland but Bernard says this was unfair. The club made it to two county senior finals in a row and this should never be forgotten. 
This and much more on the latest episode of the Across the Four Lakes Podcast

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Two try hero, Grace Kelly, against Queens University talks about the historic season which will see Tullow play in the All-Ireland League next year. 
The Paul Flood Cup final defeat the previous week threatened to undermine their bid but they came back in tremendous style to make their own bit of history. 
Grace Kelly,  who actually won a Paul Flood Cup alongside her mother, Maggie, is not letting the grass grow under her feet and she is already gearing up for the 2024-25 season.

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It has been a disappointing last couple of months for all Carlow inter-county hurling and football teams both at underage and senior level. No-one can say that the work is not being put in by both the coaching staff but also by the players. 
On the Across the Four Lakes Podcast Pat Ahern looks back on what has happened so far and looks at how Carlow can turn hard work and commitment into results.

Pat Ahern Photography

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Manager, Maurice Logue, looks back on Tullow's third Provincial Towns Cup success where they also joined a small group  of elite clubs who have retained their title. 
The club experienced the tragic loss of player, Conor Duffy, during the season while life-time member, John Browne, also passed away. 
Maurice says the influence of Sean O'Brien has been immeasurable.   This year, the Tullow Tank achieved a life-long ambition of winning a Towns Cup medal with the club where he first started to play rugby before going on to play for Leinster, Ireland and The Lions.