Tailteann Cup 2024

Story of the season. Conceded 18 goals across 12 games in league and championship. A lot of them identical to the last too- either cut open through the middle or full-back left isolated one on one inside.

Unlucky to miss out on promotion (though conceded 3 goals in a tight game too), yet the bottom three in Division 4 all won at least one game in the Tailteann which we didn't.

Two possible pairings, Laois v Wicklow and Limerick v London were ruled out.

The four top seeds all got through to the QF stage, with only Sligo dropping a point. Kildare had a plus 51 point scoring difference. Laois, Leitrim and Antrim justified their Seed 2 rating by coming second in their groups. But the other Seed 2 Offaly failed to get even a point. Tipp and London exceeded expectations by progressing as Seeds 4. And Waterford also finished third, but are replaced by New York. Longford and Wexford along with Offaly finished on zero points.

They were entitled to be winless. Their two losses were each against higher seeds. Their brutal scoring differences were courtesy of the Kildare juggernaut. Kildare 5-15 Waterford 0-06. Kildare 3-25 Longford 1-11. But Longford only lost to Seed 2 Leitrim by one point.

Longford as Seed 3 should have beaten Waterford. And if they had won by 3 or more, they would have progressed, and Tipp would have lost out to New York. There is no way they should have risked having to take the long trip to Waterford.

Pitch is being relaid in Carrick

Both New York and London gave a very good account of themselves today but Antrim and Laois progress. The four group winners (Sligo,Fermanagh,Down,Kildare) with home advantage will be expected to reach the Croke Park semi finals.

Wicklow have recovered from two opening losses to make the quarter-finals. Derry, Westmeath, Roscommon, Cavan, Clare and Meath will be looking to do something similar in the All-Ireland.

Happy enough with that as a Laois supporter, not least for the length of the drive it could have been 😂.

If there is a bit of interest in the local derby, it might have to be switched out of Kildare. Carlow would be the obvious choice if it is available. The powers that be in Croke Park have the final say. They were OK with Kildare playing Longford at Hawkfield.

"The GAA has approved the Hawkfield venue, which regularly hosts the county's hurlers and women's footballers, as the attendance is predicted to be less than 80% of its maximum capacity (1,500)."

A more up to date form guide is available on Laoisman11's football ranking thread. The only big mismatch is Down 13 v Wicklow 24. Down scored 8-16 against Laois last year at the Semi Final stage.

The others could be close in theory. Fermanagh 19 v Antrim 21. Sligo 18 v Limerick 22. Kildare 17 v Laois 23.

At the start of the 2023 National League, Limerick were in Division 2 and Sligo were in Division 4.

Tullamore will be almost empty on Sunday.

Should have kept it in Hawkfield ??

wexford gaa are trying to get the all ireland hurling 1/4 finals moved to the sunday and the tailteann cup semi finals put back to the saturday , the reason for this is they are hosting the feille competitions on saturday and sunday morning ,

there is a special central council meeting tomorrow to determine what happens

derek kent is driving this , he has serious power in the gaa central council i wouldnt be surprised if he gets his way , it would be completely wrong if he dose as it undermines a scheduled landmark day in the football calendar , the examiner were reporting that a coin toss could take place if all parties cant agree on it ,

dont rule out antrim in the semi final , that was a fine win in Enniskillen tonight , not to mention how close they came to beating meath in last years semi finals

mcintee doesn't do himself many favors at times on the line with referees or even with the media , but he is a very good coach and is getting a serious tune out of this antrim team

So where's handy to park in Tullamore for the match?

Sounds an awful lot like Laois beating Limerick at this time last year.