It's a competition he did not want to be involved in at the outset of the championship, but Meath manager Colm O'Rourke feels the Tailteann Cup experience will benefit his team as they look to climb further up the footballing ladder.
The Royals take on Down in the final of the secondary competition on Saturday. Victory will guarantee O'Rourke's side a place in next year's Sam Maguire race. That would mark an upbeat end to a year where the Leinster side struggled for much of their league campaign and then exited the provincial championship at the hands of Offaly.
Finishing sixth in Division 2 had Meath under pressure when it came to avoiding the Tailteann Cup; reaching a Leinster final was then their only route to make the All-Ireland group phase. Their disappointing loss to Offaly left many of their fans disappointed, with O'Rourke saying afterwards that his side deserved what they got.
"Well, everything went wrong, we weren't good enough on the day," he outlined after to RTÉ Radio's Sunday Sport.
"Simple as that, I don't make excuses. You get 70-plus minutes to score more than the opposition and we didn't do so. We're not going to complain about anything."
How then would a proud county like Meath take to the Tailteann Cup? Well, on the basis of their subsequent results, not too bad. They've won all their games and accounted for Saturday's opposition in their final group game.
O'Rourke is pleased that the collective under his tutelage have taken to the task of re-booting their season.
He told RTÉ Sport: "After the the Offaly game, there was huge disappointment amongst the panel. We got together afterwards and had a chat about it and everybody said they wanted to give this a shot.
"We got straight back into training and the commitment from everybody was fantastic; the application was just great. It's been a wonderful journey and it has cemented the bond between players, management and everybody involved. I have just got a great kick out of it on a personal level."
The Tailteann Cup has also given the Royals boss a chance to have a good look at his squad, to ensure that Meath will be competitive going forward.
"It's been great from the point of view of getting a run of games and being able to introduce new players," he added.
"Thirteen players have made championship debuts which you wouldn't be able to do if you were in the Sam Maguire race because you couldn't take a chance of putting in that many players.
"It's been great for the building of a team, we have a team for the future.
"Nobody wants to get to a final in Croke Park and do anything else but win. We are greedy for success in Meath, we haven't had that much recently at senior level. It will be all guns blazing."
Meath and Down played in national finals back in 1990 (league) and '91 (All-Ireland). O'Rourke was on the field of play back then.
He was asked about those games, but preferred instead to highlight the chance that the current Meath crop can make their own history.
"I don't think a player on our team was even born back then. That's all in the dim and distant past. What we have concentrated on this year is for our players to create our own history, they now have a lot of young players supporting them.
"I think they have got a great joy out of the competition. We're hoping it will yield ultimate success."
As to the task of facing Down for the second time this season, O'Rourke was all too aware of their goal threat and how that can be nullified, following on from their demolition of Laois in the semi-finals.
"They were frightening alright with their pace and power and their ability to score goals. They scored eight, it could have been eight or 14. That's what we have to combat and we hope we are ready for the challenge.
"Our back line has to be very vigilant. The way that Down opened up the Laois backs is something we've been looking at. I think that will be central to the winning and losing of the game."
Watch the Tailteann Cup final, Meath v Down, on Saturday from 2.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app or listen to live commentary on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1. Watch highlights of the weekend's football action on The Sunday Game, 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
