Carlow football manager Turlough O'Brien says that his side's victory over Kildare was not a surprise to his side, and that it may only appear like that because people underestimate the county.
Joining OTB to discuss the victory over the Lilywhites, who began the year three divisions above them in the league, and said that parts of the media
"I suppose in the eyes of media pundits at least we were complete underdogs but we didn't see it that way ourselves to be quite honest. We were quite confident that if we played to our full potential we could beat Kildare".
"We're very polished in how we play the game and we felt that we showed last year against Dublin and Monaghan that we would be able to mix it with teams from Division One if we got the opportunity".
"Our team is quite experienced, sprinkled with some talented footballers and I don't know if we get credit for that at all. Everybody talks about it being a shock, a Division Four team playing a Division One team, but when you look at the quality of the players we have I suppose the real shock is that we were in Division Four for so long".
O'Brien went on to say that while he wasn't critical of the amount of coverage that Carlow were receiving from pundits, he does believe that some haven't done their homework on his side and fail to see the qualities it possesses.
"It's not that we're not getting enough positive coverage, I'm just saying that maybe the focus of the media is misplaced. I haven't heard, yet, too many analyse the Carlow football team and look through the quality of the players that we have in the squad. In terms of physique alone we've probably one of the biggest teams in the country, and they're very, very highly conditioned".
"They're very experienced, there's about 10 on that team that have been there for 10 years and yet they're young men, and young men with a fierce drive to finally achieve something. They've been through very dark days and their football ability hasn't been seen on the big stages by the rest of the country".
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