FIXTURES
SATURDAY 15 JUNE
Down v Wicklow, Páirc Esler, 4.30pm
Sligo v Limerick, Markievicz Park, 5pm
Fermanagh v Antrim, Brewster Park, 6pm
SUNDAY 16 JUNE
Kildare v Laois, Glenisk O'Connor Park, 1.15pm
ONLINE
Live blog on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News app.
TV
GAAGO will be show the clash of Down and Wicklow.
Highlights on The Saturday Game (10.50pm) and The Sunday Game (10.15pm) RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
RADIO
Live updates on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday and Sunday Sport.
WEATHER
Saturday: Cloudy with showery outbreaks of rain, becoming heavy in some areas. Highest temperatures of 13 to 17 degrees in moderate westerly winds.
Sunday: Another day of sunny spells and showers, with some heavy showers possible. Highest temperatures of 14 to 18 degrees in a light to moderate northwest breeze. For more go to met.ie.
Winners to enjoy sole focus at Croker for the semis
And so eight remain. That octet will be become four, with the quartet still standing heading to Croke Park a week on Sunday for the semis. And that will be the only show in town on 23 June, with the GAA making much of having the last-four encounters centre stage at HQ: a key selling point for the competition, with live RTÉ coverage on tv and radio also there to aid the promotional push.
Now last year, the Galway-Mayo preliminary quarter-final in the Sam Maguire race on the same day did take away somewhat from the Tailteann semis - a day when Down put eight goals past Laois. The clamour for the Connacht duo's Pearse Stadium clash to be shown on live tv resulted in its Sunday afternoon staging.
As things stands, this year's round before the top-tier quarters are scheduled for 22 June. No shoehorning of games a day later are envisaged.
Untested Down to face Wicklow's renewed momentum
Favourites Down welcome Oisín McConville's Wicklow to Páirc Esler. On paper, you would say it's a hurdle that Conor Laverty's side will comfortably jump, but the Garden County have shown something in recent weeks to indicate that they'll be up for the battle. In defeating Carlow, McConville's men left it late, but there was more to admire in their second-half dominance of Leitrim last weekend, where they pulled away to win by seven points. In truth the margin should have been wider.
Dean Healy led the charge from midfield, kicking four points. The likes of Eoin Murtagh, Podge O'Toole, Healy and Jack Kirwan also played their part.
A season that looked like petering out, this after beating Westmeath and then running Kildare close in Leinster, is very much back on track for Wicklow. They won't mind having a crack off a Down side, yet to be tested so far.
Laverty's men, after losing to Westmeath in the Division 3 final and then edged out by Armagh in the Ulster semi-final, will no doubt have pondered that a place in Sam Maguire could have been theirs.
They did what they had to do in their Tailteann group to get this far; comfortable wins over Limerick and London sealing their passage in advance of a dead rubber against Offaly.
Down had more than enough chances to win this competition last year. They'll be keen to get back to the final and atone for that loss to Meath. It's 30 years since the county won a final of note, and that was the day they took home the biggest prize of all: a fifth success from five All-Ireland appearances.
Daniel Guinness and Pat Havern have led the Mourne scoring charge so far, with the likes of Paul Quinn Conor McCrickard also stepping up to show what they can contribute in the win over Offaly.
Sligo closing in on where they want to be
Beat Limerick and Sligo footballers will be heading to Croke Park for the third year in a row. Manager Tony McEntee has certainly improved the fortunes of the Yeats County since taking over in the autumn of 2020. McEntee's stock could even be higher if Sligo had hung on to defeat Galway in the Connacht semi-final.
Facing into the secondary competition thereafter could have been tricky. It took Sligo a while to get going against Wexford but a strong finish saw them comfortably home. Against Tipperary, they were dominant from the start. A fortnight ago and Antrim proved a more doughty opponent, with Sligo not pushing home in periods of the game where they led by four and then five points. Credit, however, to the Saffrons, for ensuring parity.
At the outset of the competition, manager McEntee spoke about getting back to Croke Park. With home advantage and up against opposition who were relegated to Division 4 in the spring, Sligo will be confident that they can prevail. They have been scoring freely in this competition, with Niall Murphy, Sean Carrabine, Alan McLaughlin and Paddy O'Connor all highlight their marksmanship at various stages.
As for Limerick, well it's three wins on the bounce after they accounted for Tipperary last weekend. Nice bit of momentum ahead of their trip northwards. Before their win against Offaly in the opening round, the Shannonsiders endured a 13-match losing streak. The advantage then of the competition like the Tailteann Cup in helping to restore morale.
Erneside battle in store as Fermanagh and Antrim lock horns
We're guaranteed a least one Ulster team in the semi-finals as unbeaten duo Fermanagh and Antrim face off at Brewster Park. The only blemish on the Saffrons' record was their draw with Sligo, an outcome that wasn't enough to guarantee them top spot in their group.
And so they had to face London last weekend. A hard-earned victory for Antrim in the end, with the Exiles pushing them all the way. Aghagllon's clubman Ruairí McCann with his second goal of the day deep into added time eventually sealed a four-point victory, but the Saffrons didn't reach the same purpose or fluidity as they did against Sligo a week earlier.
Manager Andy McEntee was a relieved man when he spoke to the press afterwards. We were stretched to the limit to get a result there, and I was glad to hear the final whistle," he said.
"The way they (London) play, you don't want to be playing catch-up, as they do defend well and defend deep. Once they got the (early) four-point lead, our boys maybe got a bit tight, and we had nine wides in the first half.
"But they stuck at it, and big Ruairi does his usual stuff. We got goals, and some of the lads really pushed on."
Fermanagh topped their group ahead of Laois, this after a one-point win over the midlanders on 1 June. Goals from Callum Jones (2) and Conor McShea were ultimately crucial as the Erne County withstood late pressure.
After a 2024 that started with relegation to Division 3 and then a heavy loss to Armagh in Ulster, the Tailteann has seen Fermanagh's fortunes improve, with the manner of the win boding well for what should be a close enough Ulster derby here.
Kildare awaiting first real test
The final quarter-final sees Kildare at 'home' against Laois in Tullamore. Work at St Conleth's Park in Newbridge and so the county team are on their travels. I'm sure the Lilywhites will want to be championship football beyond the Leinster campaign at their home ground in 2025 and one way of ensuring that is by winning the third edition of the Tailteann Cup.
After Kildare lost to Louth in the Leinster semi-final, former Mayo star and now Sunday Game analyst Lee Keegan said that he wouldn't trust Kildare to win the Tailteann.
"Kildare look like a shell of a team, to be brutally honest. They deserve to be in the Tailteann Cup, the Westport native remarked.
"I don't know if the players will want to (compete in it)".
In fairness to Glenn Ryan's side, they have embraced the competition, though on paper a group containing Longford, Waterford and Leitrim was never really going to test them. That said, against the latter it took a late spurt to make the game more comfortable than it should have been. A superb seven-point haul from Daragh Kirwan was instrumental in seeing it out.
Kildare will be expected to make the semis; in truth they have to makes the semis and that bit more.
A late Mark Timmons goal was key as Laois finally wore down New York on Sunday last. On the basis of that game, they would need to improve dramatically if they are to reach the last four in successive years.
Watch The Saturday Game this weekend from 10.50pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
Watch an All-Ireland Football Championship double-header, Armagh v Galway (1.45pm) and Dublin v Mayo (3.45pm) on Sunday on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
