Down v Wicklow: Oisin McConville urges Garden County to meet the moment in Tailteann Cup final

Wicklow manager Oisin McConville hopes this weekend’s Tailteann Cup final against Down proves a launchpad for the county as he chases his first trophy in inter-county management.

Having fallen just short of shocking Dublin in the Leinster SFC quarter-finals in April, the Garden County recorded wins over Limerick, Tipperary, Antrim and Offaly to set up a shot at silverware at Croke Park on Saturday (15:30 BST).

Since being introduced in 2022, the second-tier Tailteann Cup has given winners Westmeath, Meath, Down and Kildare the opportunity to compete in the All-Ireland series – and McConville hopes Wicklow can follow suit.

“I look at the teams that have won the Tailteann Cup, Down, Meath and Westmeath – all those teams are capable of challenging at the highest level and they’ve already proved that,” said McConville, an All-Ireland winner with Armagh in 2002.

“If our trajectory was something similar to what they’ve gone through, then definitely.

“But we can’t be accepting of the fact that we’re just in the Tailteann Cup final, we want to go ahead and win it now.”

Wicklow have shown impressive spirit en route to Croke Park. They overturned a nine-point deficit to beat Antrim by the minimum in Belfast in the quarter-finals (2-19 to 3-15) before a second-half surge against Offaly saw them roar back from eight points down to win a dramatic semi-final 2-26 to 4-15.

But 2024 champions Down have serious pedigree at this level having edged past Fermanagh in the semi-finals to reach their third Tailteann Cup decider.

“They’ve got a lot of dangers, they’ve been playing at a high level over the last couple of years. They were in Division Two, back down to Division Three and are going back to Division Two next year,” McConville, who took over as Wicklow boss before the 2023 season, said of the Mournemen.

“[In the] Ulster Championship, they beat Donegal and that’s the standout result. If you look at that game on a standalone, that’s a scary thought.

“The likes of [Odhran] Murdock, [Daniel] Guinness and Pat Havern, they’re very hard to pin down. That’s the job that’s ahead of us.

“We know the enormity of the task, but we have to have confidence in our ability and how good we’ve been in the past four games. A lot of the concentration has to be on ourselves.”