Carr committed to Ardagh's cause

The singing had just died down and a selection of dancing was still taking place in the dressingroom when James Carr spoke to The Mayo News about the love of club, family and what football means to those inhabiting the kingdom of Ardagh.
The man who has worn the crest of his county on the biggest stage of all had just helped one of the smallest clubs in the land to a league title by defeating Ardnaree in the Division 3 final in Ballina and the celebrations knew no bounds.
However, in the midst of it all, James took time to describe the emotion and how much the victory truly meant.
“It's a different feeling. It's just brilliant. My family are very invested in the club. My grandfather (Jeremiah O'Meara from Cappoquin in Waterford) founded the club some years ago in the field behind my house and we've a lot of history wrapped up in Ardagh GAA.
“Dad is always out cutting the pitch and Mam is hugely involved too, and all the brothers are on the team so it's a whole family thing, which makes it brilliant,” he added as the wagon train prepared to return home with the spoils of war.
Despite playing in Croke Park on the greatest of days, Carr had never won a final with his club before the league win over Ardanree. Had he ever been tempted to leave Ardagh behind for bigger clubs and brighter lights.
“I never ever thought about moving clubs, why would I? Ardagh is my club, simple as that.
Before I started playing the club was in real trouble for numbers but thankfully a good group of lads came through at my brother Brendan's age and that spurred things on again and from then on we've just powered on.
“A few years ago, Liam Moffatt came to me and said 'whatever you do, never, ever move club' and that stuck with me. He's utterly right and I wouldn't change it for the world.
“It's great for a lot of young lads to look at us winning today and see that they don't have to be at a bigger club to win and progress. Winning today was huge. We'd be seen as a smaller club than Ardnaree and not many people gave us a chance today, but some days David does actually beat Goliath,” he added with a smile.
Next weekend, Ardagh will look to take that winning momentum into the junior championship and the adventures awaiting them there.
“We have Cill Chomain in the first round and that's a huge challenge. They're a super team, well set up with really top players and we'll just look to have a cut at it. It's great to be playing a fine team like Cill Chomain because they always give us a great test and I'm really looking forward to it.
We have Achill in the following game after that, so it won't be getting any easier,” he added before being reclaimed by his celebrating brethren.