Brian Carroll retires

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Bord na Mona man
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Brian Carroll retires

Post by Bord na Mona man »

Statement below
It is with both satisfaction and sadness that I announce my retirement from inter-county hurling. For the past 14 seasons I have been privileged to play for Offaly and got to fulfil my boyhood dreams of captaining my county in 2010, playing in a Leinster Final in Croke Park in 2004 and, probably most importantly for me, the general buzz of playing inter-county hurling with and against the best in the country.

I remember playing my first game at under 14 level in the Tony Forristal competition as fondly as my last game against Clare at senior level 20 years later. And although I have had little success during my inter-county career in terms of silverware, I am most grateful for the career I have had and leave the game with wonderful memories and know that I always strived to be the best and beat the best.

I will always be eternally grateful to the numerous people who have encouraged and supported me in my pursuit of my sporting dreams. Firstly and most importantly, I would like to thank my wife Aisling for her continued support and encouragement and for making numerous sacrifices on my behalf. I would especially like to thank my mother Mary who was my biggest avenue of support throughout my career and gave me the confidence to believe in myself.

I would also like to thank the people of Coolderry and Offaly, including the many coaches, trainers, officials and backroom staff who continue to tirelessly ensure hurling thrives in our area. Also, I will always be thankful for my time spent in St Kieran’s College, Kilkenny, and the University of Limerick and my time spent playing with Leinster where I learned so much about the game from great players and coaches.

While these have been lean years for Offaly supporters, we as players have always been grateful for the continued support you show to our teams. I wish the management and players continued success for the coming years and we long for the return of Offaly hurling and football to greater days. Finally, hurling is and always will be part of who I am and I now look forward to continue to play with my club Coolderry and supporting Offaly hurling teams for many years to come.

kingscounty
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Re: Brian Carroll retires

Post by kingscounty »

Great hurler, super skill , speed, score taker , free taker . He arrived on the scene at the rail wrong time , he was for me the best forward Offaly have had for the past 10 years and he will be badly missed . Enjoy your county retirement Brian but I will look forward to watching you play for Coolderry for few years yet .

SearingDrive
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Re: Brian Carroll retires

Post by SearingDrive »

kingscounty wrote:Great hurler, super skill , speed, score taker , free taker . He arrived on the scene at the rail wrong time , he was for me the best forward Offaly have had for the past 10 years and he will be badly missed . Enjoy your county retirement Brian but I will look forward to watching you play for Coolderry for few years yet .
I have to agree with that comment. Thanks Brian for all your days wearing the Offaly jersey, and best wishes in retirement.

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Lone Shark
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Re: Brian Carroll retires

Post by Lone Shark »

It's impossible to overstate the level of gratitude I as a supporter feel towards Brian after an outstanding career. He was always a gifted hurler - breaking onto the Offaly team now as a teenager would be impressive, to do so in 2002 when the team was filled with top class hurlers was outstanding.

Yet while his talent was immense, it was his attitude to the game that shone through at all times. It was no coincidence that when the chips were down, Brian often came through with some of his best individual performances. The manner in which he played the game was exemplary and he brought the type of attitude onto the field that every supporter would aspire to see in their on-field heroes.

Far, far lesser hurlers have won All Ireland medals and All Star awards in the last decade - but even if his gifts didn't always earn the recognition that they deserved outside of Offaly, anybody with any understanding of the game here knew he was truly an outstanding player, as well as being an absolute gentleman at all times.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

Plain of the Herbs
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Re: Brian Carroll retires

Post by Plain of the Herbs »

Farewell, Brian Carroll. And thank you for, well, being Brian Carroll.

With 131 Offaly appearances, only two (Joachim & Pádraig Horan) have worn tricolour more times. Fittingly a trio of wholehearted hurlers atop the Offaly appearances chart.
Pat Donegan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

fifitrixiebelle
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Re: Brian Carroll retires

Post by fifitrixiebelle »

great bit of stuff, sorry ta see him go. was prob unlucky to come on the scene when he did but offaly hurlin owes him alot & he doesnt owe it anythin
happy retirement brian

sam88885a
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Re: Brian Carroll retires

Post by sam88885a »

brian carroll was a great servent with 131 appearance for offaly .
he was a free scoring forward with lots of skill .
i feel he was let down by a number of poor managers at county level whereas with coolderry they team and managment made every efford to exploit his scoring talent and he rarely dissapointed .
thanks brian pity you didnt get that leinster medal in 04 , you deserved .
happy retirement
i

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Bord na Mona man
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Re: Brian Carroll retires

Post by Bord na Mona man »

Unfortunately Brian is another stalwart whose career happened to coincide with a bleak time in Offaly hurling. Nonetheless his efforts are no less appreciated. He put in several big performances over the years. There were times where Offaly could have been subjected to a few more shocks had he not kept the scoreboard ticking over.

Even on dark days he kept plugging away. In Nowlan Park in 2014 when Offaly were shot down in flames he was one of the few players giving Kilkenny any trouble.

In some ways it's a disappointing he has quit now. In recent years he has alluded to the commitment of a lot of players not being up to scratch. Perhaps with the new management, this is about to improve.

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Re: Brian Carroll retires

Post by keyboardwarrior »

A very honourable statement befitting the man and his selfless contribution to Offaly hurling.

I recall the hushed tones which heralded his coming of age at minor as a son of Pat. Arguably no OY hurler before him came with such a burden of expectation. In my view he delivered on that expectation and it’s a pity many of his supporting cast of his peers could not reach his effort levels and commitment to the cause.

With the likes of Hannify, Murphy and Carroll now retired you begin to wonder where the panel will go to draw from the well of traditional OY grit and steel. Whilst these guys didn’t win the medals they grew up with and played alongside men who feared nobody. The 2014 game v KK spoke volumes of his grit and temperament when almost all around him bar Dempsey were collapsing.

You really do get the feeling that we have now arrived at a ‘rip it up and start again’ moment.

Perhaps Brian has a role in management in the future and it seems he has already indicated his interest. I didn’t know Brian but he did seem to be open to new philosophies on how the game should be played and that bodes well for any role in management down the line.

Best wishes on your retirement Brian.

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Re: Brian Carroll retires

Post by Plain of the Herbs »

Just to sum up Brian's scoring record -

5-194 in 49 Senior championship games (goals against Leix ('04), Antrim ('05), Dublin ('07), Kilkenny & Antrim (both '14))
7-244 in 82 NHL games (goals against Limerick & Cork (both '03), Wexford ('06), 2 vTipperary ('06), Galway & Clare (both '08))
1-62 in 13 Minor hurling championship games

Come to think of it, one of his goals v Tipperary in a Semple Stadium NHL quarter-final in 2006 was an absolute stunner.
Pat Donegan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

John Hanamy Claraman
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Re: Brian Carroll retires

Post by John Hanamy Claraman »

Brian Carroll 2002-2015
Not the first Offaly player to give over a decade of inter county service without achieving honours however he is probably the one who gave most in two decades of honest commitment through underage and senior for so little return in those material type terms, he had however everything else and for that reason will always be recognized and remembered in the pantheon of Offaly's finest hurlers.

Best wishes to him and his family on his retirement from the inter county scene.
Many thanks. ...... JH ............................esto Fidelis

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Wing Back
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Re: Brian Carroll retires

Post by Wing Back »

In my opinion probably our most gifted hurler of the last decade. As POTH mentioned those goals against Tipperary in 2006 stick out in my mind as great scores also. But also his performances which dragged Offaly through dirty games against lesser lights like Laois, Down and Antrims of the hurling world in league and early rounds of championship where without him we would have surely had far more upsetting defeats against much lower ranked teams.

One performance that sticks out in my mind was not that of a game for Offaly or Coolderry (for which there were many) but one he played for University of Limerick against LIT way back in 2008 where he put in a super game scoring I think 7 points from play. Both teams were littered with county stars including Joe Canning, Willie Hyland, Seamus Hickey, Pa Cronin as well as a host of other county players at the time (and who would be in the future) including Kieran Joyce and Matthew Ruth of KK, our own Michael Verney and Sean Ryan as well as Tom Stapleton from Tipp and Matthew Whelan of Laois on the UL team. The LIT team was littered with a similar spread apart from the stars mentioned. Even though Brian ended up on the losing team that day thanks to an injury time point from Willie Hyland for LIT it was clear to everyone present that Brian was the best on show.

Thank you for all the years of service to the Faithful cause Brian. Hopefully we'll see many more fine performances in the future with Coolderry.
'Babs keating 'resigned' as coach because of illness and fatigue. The players were sick and tired of him'

Plain of the Herbs
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Re: Brian Carroll retires

Post by Plain of the Herbs »

I only thought of checking this out this evening, and thanks to Leo McGough’s research I see Brian Carroll tops the chart of Offaly’s all-time championship scorers.

The statistician published his list of Offaly’s leading championship scorers in the programme for the replayed 2010 Leinster semi-final against Galway.

At that time, Johnny Dooley (with 4-188, or 200 points) was Offaly’s leading scorer. However, Brian’s 8th point against Tipperary in 2014 (he scored 0-13 that evening) saw Brian overtake Johnny into the outright lead.

The current list (updating Leo McGough’s 2010 list for Brian, and for Shane Dooley) is as follows

209 Brian Carroll ....... 5-194
200 Johnny Dooley ...... 4-188
162 Mark Corrigan ..... 16-114
161 Shane Dooley ...... 11-128
151 Paddy Molloy ...... 25-76
118 Joe Dooley .......... 14-76
105 Pádraig Horan ..... 15-60
Pat Donegan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

llkj
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Re: Brian Carroll retires

Post by llkj »

That is really interesting Plain. Thanks for sharing.

Would you have a breakdown of how many games each of the players played in and what was scored from frees and from play? Paddy Molloy scoring 25 goals is unreal. I know he played at a time when it appears that goals were more common, but still that is a fair achievement.

Also, do you just go through this and calculate or are you working from some database/system? It would be fantastic if Offaly had a central database like that that everyone could access to review such stats.

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Re: Brian Carroll retires

Post by Plain of the Herbs »

Thank you llkj, glad you enjoyed.

The number of games played by the seven listed is as follows –

Brian Carroll – 49
Johnny Dooley – 34 (career sadly cut short by injury)
Mark Corrigan – 35
Shane Dooley – 28
Paddy Molloy – 24
Joe Dooley – 52
Pádraig Horan – 42

It should also be noted that Molloy & Horan spent a considerable part of their careers hurling in the backs.

I don’t have a breakdown of scores from play/frees, unfortunately.

Among Paddy Molloy’s scoring feats is a 5-4 v Leix in 1969, 3-4 v Wexford the same year, a pair of 2-7s against both Carlow & Leix in 1965, and 2-5 v Westmeath in the 1967 ‘battle of Birr’.

The first place I looked this evening is that Leo McGough article in the 2010 programme. The same publication also contains a feature on Paddy Molloy’s individual scoring record. LMcG regularly contributes articles and historical statistics for Leinster semi-final and final programmes. I calculated the updated scoring tallies for Brian Carroll and Shane Dooley from the results section of the HoganStand site.

The number of appearances made by each Offaly hurler and footballer are contained in the database section of this site. This can be accessed from the home page of this site via the ‘hurler lookup’ or ‘footballer lookup’ tabs. Every Offaly hurler and footballer who played a championship or league game since the mid 1950s is listed. There are some hurlers and footballers for whom we don’t have a club or a first name and we would be happy to hear from anyone with any clues.
Pat Donegan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

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