Michael Carton hopeful Dubs can make breakthrough and end All-Ireland famine

Michael Carton knew the good times and the bad as a Dublin senior hurler.

As a promising underage hurler he came to the attention of the Dublin senior management team as a teenager and was invited into the senior panel.

He went on to win a Walsh Cup (2003), the county's first since 1966, a NHL Division 2 title (2006), missed out on Dublin's top-flight league honours (2011) but was back in the championship panel that year as the boys in blue made the All-Ireland semi-final, only to lose to TIpperary.

Two years later he was part of the Dublin team to capture the Leinster SHC title, for the first time since 1961, and went so close to reaching that year's All-Ireland final when losing narrowly to Cork in the semi-final.

In this week's 'The Hop Ball' episode, the new Dubs TV series, sponsored by AIG, Michael reflected on his intercounty days, a career that spanned 13 seasons from boy to man.

The son of Peadar Carton, who represented Dublin and Leinster and was this week named at left half-back on the Friends of Dublin Hurling Team (1960-2020), the Carton family are synonymous with hurling in the capital, with Michael's younger brother Peadar also representing the county at minor, under-21 and senior grades.

After attending Scoil Bhríde NS, Blanchardstown the O'Toole's clubman went to secondary school in St Declan's College, Nephin Road where he excelled at both football and hurling.

He was part of a prominent Declan's team that included the likes of Alan Nolan, Bernard Brogan and Declan Lally - all of whom graduated to senior intercounty level at hurling or football.

Recalling one of his early Croke Park experiences for the county he said: "I remember playing against Offaly in the championship in Croke Park and I had to go to school the next day to do my Leaving Cert. I had a physics exam but physics wasn't very high on my agenda!"

Michael outlines how his early days at the adult grade were hectic playing intercounty as well as club for whom he played senior football and hurling, winning a Dublin SHC in 2002, though still a minor.

In his mid-twenties he opted out of the O'Toole's senior football panel and though it was a difficult decision he feels it was one that stood to him later in his career with regard to avoiding injuries.

"I'll be perfectly honest I hated ice baths, never did them, refused to do them with Dublin. All that sort of stuff where I see people looking for longevity.

"I loved training matches. I didn't like doing crazy runs. Never liked it. I thought to myself 'if I'm fit enough come the weekend and no one is burning me in training I'm not going to be doing extra stuff and I just didn't..

"I just loved hurling and that aspect of it but I didn't love training. I never lifted a weight with O'Toole's and it was a wake-up call when I went to Dublin.

"My first senior year in the gym and I'm under a bench press and I've never been under a bench press in my life and I hadn't put the rings on either side and, of course, I lift it up and they fall off one side, fall off the other and I'm there with the bar and I'm going 'oh my God, I'm only new on this team and this is so embarrassing!"

When Michael was drafted into the Dublin senior set-up there were plenty of familiar faces there already with a strong O'Toole's contingent included in the panel.

"Ye it was a real big northside majority as well so I knew all the Chiaráins lads so between O'Toole's, Chiaráins and Vincent's it took up most of the panel at that stage. I think myself and Ronan Fallon were the only two to make if from our minor team up for a while.

"That first year I played it was a great team and we won the Walsh Cup, there was great comaraderie and banter there."

Dublin defeated Kilkenny in the 2003 Walsh Cup final (2-11 to 2-10) in front of a near capacity crowd in Parnell Park.

"That was some Kilkenny team. Thirteen of that starting team that day won the All-Ireland the year before - DJ Carey, Charlie Carter. They were a serious team and in Parnell Park and the place was packed.

"I remember it so clearly as I came on with 20/25 minutes to go. I wouldn't normally get nervous but I was really nervous going on that day.

"I was coming in and were winning and I was (thinking) 'you better add something to this'.

"Thank God I got on a few balls and did well. That was great just to get that bit of silverware.

"I thought we would've pushed on from there but it took a lot longer than I would've thought."

Examining why Dublin didn't 'push on' Michael expressed the opinion that it was done to self-belief, or perhaps insufficient self-belief more so than any dual player issues.

"I think it was belief. I think a lot of Dublin's downfall has been down to (lack of) belief. I think if we could win an All-Ireland we could push on and win loads."

Anthony Daly came in as manager of the Dublin senior hurler in late 2008 with Vincent Teehan, Richard Stakelum and Ciarán Hetherton as his selectors.

Under Daly the county won the NHL1 title in 2011 and Leinster SHC in 2013 - ending long famines in both competitions to the previous victories in those respective tournaments.

"2011 is a tough one for me 'cos in 2010 I had a quite a few injuries for the first time ever in my career and at the end of 2010 I wasn't enjoying it and wasn't enjoying training.

"So at the end of that year (2010) I rang Daly and told him I'm not going out for 2011 and we chatted about it and he said 'ok'. Then they went on and won the league and I wasn't there (playing). I was in Croke Park supporting them, roaring my head off in the stand, and when the (final) whistle went I was 'what did I do?'"

Following some impressive showings with O'Toole's the phone from Daly rang again!

"We played Jude's in the championship and I played well, scored six or seven points and Daly was there and he rang me that night to come back for the championship in 2011 and I didn't hesitate and just said 'yes'."

Carton says the break didn't do him any harm and he returned in a positive frame of mind.

"Ah he (Anthony Daly) was brilliant. Dalo's man-management is second to no one. He made you feel important, he'll have his arm around you and tell you you had a great game but at the same time he'd go through you if you are not putting the work in or if you are not doing something right.

"He has both sides to him. I remember one league campaign I hurled really well, really well, and we were meeting in Portmarnock for a training session and he called me up and said 'are you putting 100 per cent in' and I was 'ye' and he said 'I don't know, there's more in you'. And I was thinking to myself 'I hurled great there in the league. So it was a little kick in the arse."

2013 was the highlight of Michael's intercounty days in blue. Dublin defeated Wexford in a replay (1-17 to 0-12), then Kilkenny in a replay (1-16 to 0-16) before outclassing Galway in the provincial decider as Dublin gave something of a hurling exhibition in Croke Park.

"2013 was unreal. We didn't actually hurl that well (early on that summer) but we got momentum from the games. Early on we should've been beaten by Wexford, drew, next day we played great against them. Kilkenny, we hurled well first day but again lacked the sort of belief to put them away and the second day, the replay, I thought 'this is it now we 'bet' them, that's the monkey off the back' and we know we can beat them, and no one had beaten them in a replay, so that's even bigger.

"Then to go and do what we did against Galway in the Leinster final was unreal and there was no one reading ahead of themselves it was 'one game at a time' and Cork was a great hurling match (All-Ireland semi-final). Could have gone either way, it was so close and that happens and I said 'we'd push on', we didn't and we'd an awful year after.

"I don't know what happened, it's very hard to put a finger on it. And speaking to Anthony (Daly) since he doesn't know either. All the work was done, all the preparation was done. It's definitely belief and it's still affecting Dublin hurling 'cos you can see when we had the favourites' tag we really struggled all through my career .... hopefully we can get over the line at some stage."

The interview concludes with Michael reflecting on his decision to opt off the Dublin panel: "I felt more for my family than I did myself", as well as name-checking some of the best players he hurled with (Brendan McLoughlin and Conal Keaney) and saluting the selection of Danny Sutcliffe as this year's senior captain.

You can watch all five previous episodes of The Hop Ball here, as Eamon chatted to Alan Brogan, Collie Moran, Paul Casey, Pat Gilroy & Shane Ryan.