Tailteann Cup final: All you need to know

SATURDAY 13 JULY
Laois v Down, Croke Park, 3pm

ONLINE
Live blog on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News app. Highlights also available across the weekend.

TV
Coverage on The Saturday Game Live on RTÉ 2 and RTÉ Player from 2.45pm. Also live on GAAGO. Highlights of all the weekend’s action on The Sunday Game, RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player, from 9.30pm.

RADIO
Live commentary on Saturday Sport, RTÉ Radio 1 and on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta’s Spórt an tSathairn.

WEATHER
A cloudy start with outbreaks of light patchy rain and drizzle spreading southwards over the country. Sunny spells will develop through the day with further scattered showers developing also. Highest temperatures of 15 to 19 degrees in a light northerly or variable breeze. For more go met.ie

Listen to the RTÉ GAA Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Semi-final repeat from last year…but don’t expect a goal rush

The third instalment of the Tailteann Cup concludes with favourites Down taking on Laois in the decider.

For Conor Laverty’s side it’s an opportunity to go one better than last year; a final where they did have chances to get the better of Meath.

Laois, in Justin McNulty’s second coming as manager, already have a Division 4 title in the bag. While ticking that box was expected, reaching another national final was not. They were underdogs going in against Kildare in the quarter-finals but goals in either half from Mark Barry and Evan O’Carroll helped Laois inflict their first championship win over their neighbours since 2005.

They then accounted for Antrim in the semis, with defender Brian Byrne bagging a brace of goals in a five-point victory.

For Laois, they also will also have redemption on their minds heading to Croker, as it was at the last-four stage in 2023 that they shipped eight goals against Down, going down in the end by 22 points.

“It was a freak game, you don’t score eight goals at this standard,” was Conor Laverty’s summation, when he spoke to RTÉ Sport in advance of the final.

“And it was just that we got so many early and Laois probably then had to push out and go for the game which left holes.”

Needless to say, Laverty is not expecting another avalanche of green flags from his side, but will see success as another step as to where he feels Down should be.

The county’s All-Ireland win in 1994 remains the last piece of significant silverware won. In 2010, James McCartan guided them to an All-Ireland final, where the loss to Cork ended their perfect record on the day Sam is handed out. Down remained competitive, in Division 1, for a few years afterwards, but then things tailed off. In 2022, they failed to win a match in either league or championship.

And then Laverty, who was then coaching the county’s U-20 side, was appointed senior manager. A recovery had begun. With Down colleges starting to make a mark again and players, who previously dropped out, now re-joining the senior squad, the feelgood factor was returning. A “culture had crept in that losing was acceptable” and Laverty was determined that that would not be evident under his watch.

The players have responded positively, with the manager adding: “They’ve excelled at being driven, at having standards demanded of them, not going through the motions in training but that high standards are expected.

“That has brought them to a different level.”

That level is beyond the Tailteann Cup, and it’s Laverty’s hopes that the likes of Dublin or a Kerry or a Galway or a Mayo will be heading to face Down in championship football next year.

Laois would have felt that Division 4 was beneath them, though they did spend consecutive years there, with McNulty’s arrival after a decade away the catalyst for an upturn in their fortunes.

The loss to Offaly in their Leinster opener was disappointing but they’ve approached this competition with much zeal.

And McNulty feels Laois can continue on an upward trajectory

“I’m excited about the potential of the group in the short, medium and long term,” he told RTÉ Sport. There’s lots of potential there. But that potential has to be delivered upon.”

“We still have huge areas for improvement as well. I think you always have to be clawing for little millimetres of improvement.”

Calling it

Down are a bit further on in their development and the nature of their semi-final win over Sligo after extra-time was definitely a step up on the Laois-Antrim clash.

Pat Havern is real dynamo in the midfield for the Mourne County, chipping in with 0-07 against their Connacht rivals. The likes of Liam Kerr coming off the bench gives Down extra impetus and overall over they should make the step to the next level. A case then of which of the big guns will be heading to Newry next May or June?