SATURDAY 15 JULY
Tailteann Cup final
Meath v Down, Croke Park, 3pm
ONLINE
Live blog on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News app. Highlights also available across the weekend.
RADIO
Live commentary and updates on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport. Also live updates on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta's Spórt an Lae.
TV
Live coverage of the game as part of the The Saturday Game, on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player, from 2.30pm on Saturday.
Highlights on The Sunday Game, 9.30pm, RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
WEATHER
After a bright start, Dublin looks set for a windy and wet afternoon on Saturday.
For a detailed forecast see Met.ie.
32 years after they met in the All-Ireland football final, Down and Meath are set to lock horns in just the second Tailteann Cup final on Saturday afternoon.
The counties have lifted Sam Maguire another three times between them since but this weekend they will be merely playing for the right to compete for the trophy in 2024.
The Mourne Men were involved in the Tailteann Cup last year, when they were heavily beaten by Cavan in Round 1, while this is the Royals' first time involved after they fell to Offaly in the Leinster quarter-finals, coupled with a sixth-place finish in Division 2 of the Allianz League.
The pair's run through this competition has been impressive, with Meath inflicting on Down the only defeat that either side has suffered, in the clash at Parnell Park last month.
O'Rourke on the hunt for Royal silverware
Meath only just avoided relegation in the spring as they picked up a point from their last five games, and that point was the difference between them and the bottom two.
For manager Colm O'Rourke, who played in that 1991 loss to Down, the Tailteann Cup has been an opportunity in his first year in charge to take a look at more players than he might have been able to in the race for Sam Maguire.
"It's been great from the point of view of getting a run of games and being able to introduce new players," he told RTÉ Sport this week.
"13 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.
"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."
Down but not out
Down, for their part, also brought in a new manager after the end of last season. 2022 was a complete write-off, as they lost all seven league games and were given a trimming by Monaghan in their Ulster opener, before losing to Cavan in the Tailteann Cup.
The drop to Division 3 saw an improvement in their form, as they won five of their seven games, but it wasn't enough to secure promotion.
While we don't yet know the draws for next year's provincial championships - and there's no guarantee of a repeat of this year where Connacht saw a lower division team reaching the provincial final, which in turn pushed a Division 2 side into the Tailteann - Laverty will know that victory at Croke Park will take a bit of the pressure off their league campaign next spring.
Expert View
For former Dublin footballer Ciarán Whelan, speaking on the RTÉ GAA Podcast, it was a case of wanting his old foes in Meath to win, for the sake of the Leinster SFC.
'You want to see Meath back competitive in Leinster football," he began.
"I want to see Dublin playing Meath again in my lifetime, and get back to that level. I've my Leinster hat on.
"There's a contrast in styles," he says of Saturday's final. "They met in Parnell Park but I don't think you can read too much into that. Down kicked a lot of wides and had a different team on the field of play.
"The Cavan game would be a benchmark for me, where I was hugely impressed by Down. Their defensive structure but [also] their pace and runners.
"They're going to be dangerous in Croke Park where they'll try to close down the Meath full-forward line. They've been on fire; Aaron Lynch, Jordan Morris and Matthew Costello got 2-10 between them the last day.
"If Down put the clampers on that, and get bodies back and limit their effectiveness, I think they might just edge it."
Enda McGinley, also speaking on the podcast, joked that it was "the biggest insult to Meath, to know how far they've fallen" when even Ciarán Whelan is hoping they'd win this weekend, but he concurred with the two-time All-Star's analysis.
"Both teams will set up with a similar style, that modern football of the blanket defence," said the three-time All-Ireland winner with Tyrone.
"Down have greater pace [and] ability to break out. You think of them as a really attacking side, when you think of their attacks against Cavan and then Laois the last day. They were massively impressive going forward. The pace, the inter-play, the brains they can bring - hugely impressive.
"Meath have developed their defensive set up. Their attacking [style] at the start of the year was the long- ball game but that becomes less effective when you're trying to break out from a blanket defensive position. You're less in position and men are more isolated up the pitch so it does tend to lend itself to a running game.
"Meath's attacking side is less developed than what Down are because they're playing exactly how they want to play; the pace, the counter attack. Meath have ended up on the counter-attack but that's their second choice. They've had to do that because they were too open defensively."
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
Listen to the RTÉ GAA Podcast on the RTÉ Radio Player, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts
