New contingent of Carr boys ready to drive Four Masters

Back in the 90s it was Shane and Joel, now there is a new generation of Carrs driving Four Masters.

The older boys Seanán, Turlough and Tomás are already blazing a trail while the fourth member of Shane’s four boys, Oisin, is being heralded as maybe the best of them all. Young Oisin was in Healy Park, Tyrone on Saturday evening cheering on Donegal and he has been at all the games where his big brothers have been to the forefront of a great era for underage football at the Donegal Town club.

Over the past few years Four Masters have reached the Ulster minor club final on two occasions, winning on their recent trip to Belfast on New Year’s Day. Turlough and Tomás Carr were part of that winning team.

A year earlier when beaten by Dungiven in the decider, Seanán and Turlough were part of the team.

Back in 1994, their father Shane was a member of the Donegal minor team but he was around at a time when success at club or county level was limited. Three years earlier and a couple of years later Donegal would go on to win Ulster minor titles.

“I would have been playing with the likes of Paul O’Donnell  and Don Monaghan at club level, but I would have missed out on the glory years,” says Shane Carr, speaking after the club's recent underage presentation.

It was also a time when Four Masters were in transition.

“There wasn't much ahead of me at the time. We were down in Division 3 and then we won the Intermediate. It was a building process from then on. It was more about what was coming after us.

“We won Intermediate in 1995 and then the senior in 2003. We were in the senior final in 2001.

“Then after 2003 we should really have kicked on but it didn’t really happen.”

Shane Carr in action for Donegal against Derry with Paddy Bradley giving him a nudge Picture: Sportsfile

Carr was a member of the Donegal senior team and was part of the team that reached the All-Ireland semi-final in 2003.

The following year, 2004, proved to be a landmark year - Shane married Emer Kelly and he laughed when I told him that it was a good year for Four Masters.

Asked to compare the football scene back in his early days and now, he replies: “Ah, it’s totally different altogether. There’s wile work going on now. You wouldn’t name anybody because you would leave somebody out. It’s just a whole driven thing.

“The right people are looking after it, which is massive. I suppose it is going to be a big issue now trying to get them through to senior, because they are there.”

He singles out what has been happening at minor level in the club over the last few years with 43 minors involved this year.

“That’s crazy numbers. But everybody seems to want to be at it. You are probably going to lose a few now to soccer. But the door will always be open.”

It all points to a bright future ahead: “You would be hoping. It’s a challenge now for people in the club, people who want to push it on. At the end of the day it's the senior championships you are looking for.

“Remember, you were in the Ulster (minor) club final last year as well and 10 of that team that started this year will be U-17 again this year,” said Carr, adding that there were seven on this year’s minor panel.

With Turlough and Tomás on the panel and Seanán on the senior panel, it is going to be a busy year. And it won’t be that long before he has another son to follow, Oisin.

“They reckon he’s the real deal. But he has no wile choice, the boys have him beat round the garden. But it’s good craic.”

Asked  if it was a competitive garden, Shane says: “It sometimes doesn’t end well, but that happens.  That’s brotherly love, as they say.”
https://www.donegallive.ie/news/gaa/1404025/the-alternative-view-fermanagh-bumps-en-route-to-omagh-defeat.html

The oldest Seanán is ‘flying’,  according to Shane: “He is loving the county training and he’s obviously bought into it. But at that age, he’s doing the leaving cert, but you don’t mind. It’s football and school and there’s not much else.”

Turlough is in fifth year and Tomás is doing his Junior Cert this year. The latter seems to have been looking after himself at the dinner table, seemingly outgrowing the two older boys.

“Yeah, he must have been giving some of them a dunt (to get more).

“You couldn’t feed them now.

“He’s a strong boy. But then they are getting great opportunities now. I know the Academy went pear shaped last year but it is up and running now. The two boys are in the minor panel now but even when they were in the Academy, they were into the gym in the morning. It gives you that kind of focus. You are up in the morning training. It’s just a way of life for them.

“Looking back, we didn’t get opportunities like that at all. Just different times,” says Shane, who said there was probably more physical work on the farm back then.”

All of them dabbled with soccer and they are ambitious. “They seem to be now. They loved the soccer. Tomás had a big year last year at both, with the Galway Cup. He has kinda given it up this year when he went to the county minors.  He had to pull the pin on it. You have to make a choice at some stage, you can’t keep both going.

“Turlough is also committed to the Gaelic now. He would have been the main soccer man for a good while. But I would have picked them up and dropped them off. I didn’t push them either way.

“They are all different footballers, totally. Tomás, you would hope would be an out and out midfielder. Seanán is an inside forward and Turlough is a sort of an all rounder. He covers a lot of ground,” said Shane, who really enjoyed Turlough’s performance in the final minutes of the Ulster club game against Magherafelt.

“He totally controlled the ball during that period,” said Shane, who said he laughed when he saw the interview with him after the final and the word luck was mentioned in the win over Magherafelt. He said it wasn’t luck, we owned the ball in the second half.

“He was totally defiant. He would be a Roy Keane type character, he would say it straight. In fairness, he would demand high standards, and he would do it himself first. And that’s the attitude he has and it’s no harm.”

So with plenty of petrol in the tank, it looks as if the Carrs have much more to give to Four  Masters.