| Carlow | |
| Crest: | Carlow GAA crest.png |
| Sport: | Football |
| Irish: | Ceatharlach |
| Nickname: | The Barrowsiders[1] |
| County Board: | Carlow GAA |
| Manager: | Niall Carew |
| Captain: | Sean Gannon |
| Home Venues: | Dr Cullen Park, Carlow |
| Sfc: | Leinster (PR) in 2022 |
| Last Championship Title: | None |
| Nfl Division: | 4 (7th in 2022) |
| Last League Title: | None |
| Pattern La1: | _oneillsred |
| Pattern B1: | _CarlowGAA |
| Pattern Ra1: | _oneillsred |
| Pattern So1: | _hoops_red_gold |
| Leftarm1: | FFC90E |
| Body1: | 1C86EE |
| Rightarm1: | FFC90E |
| Shorts1: | ED1C24 |
| Socks1: | 22B14C |
| Pattern La2: | _oneillsgold |
| Pattern B2: | _greenhorizontal |
| Pattern Ra2: | _oneillsgold |
| Pattern So2: | _hoops_red_gold |
| Leftarm2: | ED1C24 |
| Body2: | ffffff |
| Rightarm2: | ED1C24 |
| Shorts2: | ffffff |
| Socks2: | 22B14C |
The Carlow county football team represents Carlow in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Carlow GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Leinster Senior Football Championship and the National Football League.
Carlow's home ground is Dr Cullen Park, Carlow. The team's manager is Niall Carew.
The team last won the Leinster Senior Championship in 1944, in Athy, but has never won a match in Croke Park or the All-Ireland Senior Championship or the National League.
Carlow have claimed very few honours at senior level. The team won a Leinster Senior Football Championship (SFC) in 1944. The final was played in Athy due to the war and Carlow defeated Dublin by a scoreline of 2–6 to 1–6. Carlow also lost Leinster SFC finals in 1941 and 1942 to the same opposition. Kerry fisherman-publican Paddy Bawn Brosnan kept Carlow from reaching an All-Ireland SFC final in 1944. His second-half goal put Carlow out of the All-Ireland semi-final by a scoreline of 3–3 to 0–10.
Ten years later Carlow reached the National League final with a famous 1–10 to 1–7 win against Armagh, but were well beaten by Mayo in the final.
Carlow won the 1994 All-Ireland B Senior Football Championship, and an O'Byrne Cup in 2002. The team defeated Wicklow by a scoreline of 2–10 to 0–8.
Other significant performances include reaching the Leinster Minor Football Championship final in 2007, when the team lost to Laois. The Carlow Vocational Schools team won the VEC All Ireland Championship in 1973, while Carlow CBS won an All-Ireland B title at Croke Park in 2015. An under-21 team came within a point of defeating Dublin in 1984.
In the 1980–81 National League Carlow once fielded a one-club selection so that Éire Óg could prepare for their first Leinster Club final. Tommy Dwyer, at 6'7, was one of the tallest midfielders in GAA history.
Paul Bealin spent a year as manager.
In late 2012, Anthony Rainbow was appointed manager of the senior county football team.
Carlow played Laois in a first round qualifier in 2013 — the first Friday night game in the history of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.[2]
Turlough O'Brien managed Carlow between 2014 and 2020. In the 2018 National Football League, O'Brien led the team out of Division 4. This was their first promotion in more than three decades. In the 2018 Leinster Senior Football Championship, he led Carlow to a quarter-final victory against Kildare at O'Connor Park. He resigned in June 2020.[3] [4] [5]
Also in 2018, Paul Broderick was nominated for an All Star, the first Carlow player to receive a nomination since Colm Hayden in 1994, which was the year Carlow won the All-Ireland Senior B Football Championship.
In August 2020, Niall Carew replaced O'Brien as manager.[6]
INJ Player has had an injury which has affected recent involvement with the county team.
RET Player has since retired from the county team.
WD Player has since withdrawn from the county team due to a non-injury issue.
Darren Leonard, Simon Rea
Carlow have a history of appointing "foreign" managers, including Liam Hayes (Meath), Pat Roe (Laois), Paul Bealin (Dublin), Andy Shortall (Laois) and Bobby Millar (Laois).[8] Luke Dempsey
2004, on an interim basis
Luke Dempsey (2) 2009/2010/2011/2012
| Dates | Name | |
|---|---|---|
| ?–? | ? | |
| ?–? | Paul Bealin | |
| 2012–? | Anthony Rainbow | |
| 2014?–2020 | Turlough O'Brien | Club? |
| 2020– | Niall Carew | |
Carlow has no All Stars.[11]