The Tailteann Cup hit its stride at the weekend with some resonant performances from Carlow and Leitrim in their wins over Tipperary and Antrim, both of whom will be playing next season in a higher division than the teams that beat them.
There was also an echo of All-Ireland B titles won three decades ago by Leitrim in 1990 and Carlow four years later. Monday’s draw for the quarter-final of the Tailteann Cup threw out the final pairings from those years: Leitrim v Sligo and Carlow v Westmeath.
Both had to recover from big championship defeats this year. Leitrim had lost to now Connacht champions Galway in the semi-final whereas Carlow suffered a five-goal shellacking from Louth, 0-10 to 5-10.
For manager Niall Carew, the 1-12 to 1-10 win over the 2020 Munster champions was a huge lift for a largely inexperienced team.
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“It was massive for the group, a big win. No-one outside of the group believed that we were going to get it over the line.”
Carlow started the year with a serious rebuild needed. The team of a few years ago was moving on after a number of high-profile successes, a qualifier run, promotion from Division Four and a big championship win over Kildare, a first in the fixture since 1953, and a match in which they kicked no wides.
Carew believes that the Louth hammering, painful though it was, taught valuable lessons.
“At the end, it was 15 scores to 10 but the five scores were goals. Every time we got back a little into the match they seemed to come up with a goal. The lessons were not to let concentration lapse in things like tracking runners and for everyone to take responsibility.
“I think we just froze a bit and you could see it in the way we weren’t running off the shoulder but that comes with experience, as the weekend proved.
“Beating Tipperary was no fluke. I’d say we had about 60 per cent possession and were missing Jordan Morrissey, who’s one of our most established players. Unfortunately, we lost Darragh O’Brien to an injury as well. But there was an unreal atmosphere created by the Carlow supporters. You could hear them every time we turned over a ball so with another home draw, we’re really looking forward to Saturday.”
In the wake of Antrim’s 2-14 to 1-12 defeat by Leitrim on Saturday, manager Enda McGinley stepped down after two years. Antrim GAA thanked him for his efforts.
“During Enda’s tenure our senior footballers have both gained promotion to Division Three and retained their status for 2023. We would like to sincerely thank Enda, Stephen O’Neill, Seán Kelly, Stephen Quinn and all the backroom team for their efforts and we wish them all the best of luck for the future.”
SATURDAY
Leinster SHC final
Galway v Kilkenny, Croke Park, 7.0 [RTÉ2]
All-Ireland SFC Qualifiers round 1
Clare v Meath, Cusack Park, 6.0 [GAAGO]
Mayo v Monaghan, Castlebar, 4.0 [Sky Sports Arena]
Cork v Louth, Páirc Ui Chaoimh, 2.0 [GAAGO]
Joe McDonagh Cup SH final
Antrim v Kerry, Croke Park, 5.0 [RTE 2]
Tailteann Cup SFC quarter-final
Offaly v New York, O’Connor Park, 2.0 [GAAGO]
SUNDAY
Munster SHC final
Clare v Limerick, Semple Stadium, 4.0 [RTÉ2]
All-Ireland SFC round 1
Armagh v Tyrone, Athletic Grounds, 1.30 [RTÉ2]
Tailteann Cup SFC quarter-finals
Fermanagh v Cavan, Brewster Park, 4.0
Leitrim v Sligo, Carrick-on-Shannon, 3.0 [GAAGO]
Carlow v Westmeath, Netwatch Cullen Park, 2.0
