IT Carlow have reiterated their disappointment at being excluded from this year's O'Byrne Cup.

Despite having made huge strides in colleges football over the past number of years and being able to call on players of the calibre of Craig Rogers and Kevin Meaney (both Laois), Ben Brosnan (Wexford) and Dylan Hayden (Wicklow), they weren't invited to take part in the pre-season competition, while UCD, DIT, DCU and Athlone IT were.

Their frustration has been compounded by Kilkenny's decision to withdraw from the competition, resulting in Louth receiving a bye into the next round.

"There is a bit of disquiet about it," IT Carlow GAA club chairman Cormac O'Toole told the Irish Daily Star.

"The criteria used to select the college teams for the 2011 O'Byrne Cup were the placings from the Higher Education League. I don't know what criteria were used this year, but we are in the Division 1 final against UCC so we were obviously in the top top.

"Kilkenny withdrawing rubbed salt into the wound."

IT Carlow had been hoping to use the O'Byrne Cup as preparation for their forthcoming Sigerson Cup campaign. Tweet

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