September Road: Do you know why traffic lights are red, yellow and green? Basically, traffic engineers lacked either the motivation or the ingenuity, or both, to come up with a system of colours on their own - and simply copied the lights used by railroad engineers.

Now, we know Carlow didn't, in turn, copy the traffic engineers when carefully choosing their county colours - though they might as well have - but unfortunately, their jersey strikes the same fear in the hearts of opponents on GAA fields as the colours do in everyday road users. None.

There's simply nothing intimidating about a jersey that looks like a 1980s icepop - and calls have even been made in some very high quarters within the county about ditching the jersey in favour of something a little more intimidating. Like a rainbow perhaps. We know of one supporter who made the jersey instantly popular in his college by deleting the second word of the sponsor on the jersey and adding a "d" to the end of the first word.

However, the minor hurlers of the county have been working on a more traditional method of making the sight of the red, yellow and green inspire terror in neighbouring counties again.

If the GAA's new director of hurling, Paudie Butler, is looking for a demonstration of the potential that lies outside the traditional boundaries of the code, he needs to go no farther than Carlow.

Last weekend, Carlow's minor hurlers knocked Wexford out of the 2006 championship. Now, there are two reasons the result cannot be written off as a one-off shock.

First, not only were Carlow unflattered by the 2-12 to 0-11 scoreline, they should have won by more - they demonstrated superior skill and determination throughout.

Second, and probably more important, the side - under the Kilkennyman Tommy Buggy - had demonstrated their quality earlier in the campaign. They lost to Offaly by a single point early last month, overcame Laois by the same margin, and then had 27 points to spare over Westmeath - handing out a lesson the likes of which Carlow hurlers would traditionally have been taking rather than giving.

Carlow may have claimed the Leinster minor B hurling title in 1998, but there is simply no comparison between a secondary competition and taking on the big guns.

For a county that don't normally enjoy much luck in hurling, the semi-final draw last week was good news for once. Next up are Offaly - who edged Carlow out by the narrowest of margins - 1-9 to 1-8 - at the start of the season. It will be the first Leinster minor hurling semi-final featuring red, yellow and green jerseys since 1956.

Kilkenny play Dublin in the other semi-final, and the matches will be played as a double-header in Portlaoise.

Even though the provincial semi-finals will not be played until Saturday, June 24th, motivation is not a problem for Carlow's best young hurlers, who were already back training last Wednesday.

Unbelievably, a provincial final date for the county is now a realistic possibility rather than a pipe-dream. The traffic lights have been stuck on red in Carlow for long enough.

Quote of the Weekend: "The old values were restored today. This is Tipperary championship hurling. This is the obligation we have to bring forward." - Babs Keating.

Tipperary rarely at home

On a July day in 1991, Tipperary and Cork shared eight goals and 34 points in a Munster final that will be remembered by all 55,006 spectators present as one of the most exciting Munster finals ever played at what's known as hurling's headquarters.

Since then, incredibly, Tipperary have won only three Munster senior hurling championship ties in Semple Stadium, Thurles - against minnows Kerry in 1993, and Limerick twice, in 1997 and yesterday.

Now, of course, we should point out that Tipperary are rarely afforded the opportunity to play championship ties in Thurles - though that is partly their own fault as, of late, they usually don't prolong their stay in the Munster championship any longer than absolutely necessary - but their recent record at home is nevertheless unimpressive, to say the least.

And it includes a 23 points to 3-12 defeat to Cork in the Munster final at the ground in July, 2000. In fact, last year, after a draw with Limerick in Thurles, Tipperary then won the replay at the Gaelic Grounds. So the question is: if it really is the home of hurling, why can't Tipperary hurl well there more often?