Tailteann Cup ticking the right boxes for participating counties

The Tailteann Cup semi-finals at the weekend move the competition to Croke Park – in line with the GAA’s undertaking for the promotion of the Tier 2 football championship.

It has been a big year for the competition, as for the first time its structure mirrors that of the Sam Maguire with group stages and knockout rounds, guaranteeing at least three matches per team.

Like its Tier 1 equivalent, the group stages have been well contested and going into the semi-finals there are four different counties from last year, which freshens up the cast: Down v Laois and Antrim v Meath.

Mark Fitzgerald is manager of Limerick, who came very close in last weekend’s quarter-finals but were denied by a strong second-half recovery from Laois.

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He says that there was no problem getting the engagement of his panel even though they might have disappointed at getting relegated from Division Two a year after they had gone up and with the experience of Sam Maguire last summer.

“We had huge time for it and the players totally bought into the whole Tailteann Cup. Players want games at the end of the day, competitive games and you’re getting three games and if you win one of the them, you’re guaranteed a fourth so from that point of view the players loved it.”

He acknowledged the frustration of nearly reaching the Munster final for a second successive year.

“We had a shot at goal against Clare in the 75th minute and ideally, that goes in and we’re in the Sam Maguire but, notwithstanding that, the players dusted themselves down. It’s commendable that there is another championship, similar in structure to the Sam Maguire.

“It’s probably been buoyed up by the fact that Westmeath have done so well having won the Tailteann last year.”

Westmeath were inaugural winners last year with the final staged as a curtain raiser to the Derry-Galway All-Ireland semi-final and between them the double bill attracted 68,830.

As part of the reward for winning the trophy, they were promoted to this year’s Tier 1 where they acquitted themselves admirably, losing to group winners Armagh by just a point and narrowly missing a free last weekend to eliminate 2021 champions Tyrone.

Niall Carew’s Carlow have had a second good run at the Tailteann, again reaching the quarter-finals where they lost in Belfast against Antrim, who now face Meath. Their manager is happy with the achievement and above all the number of matches.

“Great experience for us. We won three and lost three but we had six games. We were competing anyway and we’ll take that. I still think the most important competition is championship. I’d way prefer to have a good run in championship than win the league in the muck and rain. Obviously we’ll do our best but the more times we play summer football, the better.

“I think we’re better than last year which means that players are improving. They’re nearly all under 25 and the challenge is holding it together.”

He believes that the media profile has been good, which is another asset for the new competition and encouragement for participants.

“I think there’s been a big buy-in from the media as well and that’s important and there are two live games this weekend. I think everyone has rowed in behind it.”

It had been hoped to stage this weekend’s Tailteann semi-finals as a double bill in Croke Park with no competing fixtures. Instead the most box-office of the Sam Maguire preliminary quarter-finals, Galway v Mayo, will throw in on Sunday afternoon.

This was unavoidable according to Feargal McGill of Croke Park’s Central Competitions Control Committee, as Galway also has its hurlers involved in Saturday’s All-Ireland quarter-final in Limerick.

“There was always a risk that we’d have a county involved in the hurling quarter-finals and the preliminary football quarter-finals. Our commitment was to make sure the Tailteann Cup semi-finals were live on RTÉ and played in Croke Park. That was our commitment. Ideally we would have had them with no other games on the Sunday but sadly that wasn’t possible this time around.

“It was possible last year because there were no other football fixtures but with the new football championship we had to put another round in there because of the knock-on effects.”

McGill added the GAA were satisfied with the attendance figures which haven’t been enormous but which, according to him, have considerably outstripped the numbers that attended the Tommy Murphy Cup (the now discontinued Tier 2 attempt from the 2000s).

“We’re quite happy. Figures have been better than last year. Crowds may not have been amazing but they’ve been solid and certainly a multiple of what would have attended the Tommy Murphy Cup.”