Fans at the forefront as Wicklow prepare for Down finale

Wicklow manager Oisín McConville has said that the aim for his side this weekend is to give the supporters what they deserve, as they get set to take on Down in Saturday's Tailteann Cup final at Croke Park.

Speaking at a media day ahead of the decider, McConville said the fantastic and hungry support is a motivating factor heading into a mammoth fixture.

"It's about the players," the former Armagh star explained.

"It's about the bigger picture as far as supporters too. I think it would just give everybody a massive lift.

"I think supporters are hungry to get behind this team, to find a team that they can really latch on to.

"The support that they've shown in the last two years has been outstanding.

"As I said, we have tried to be patient at times because we've come up short a few times, but they've been there for us and they will be there again at the weekend."

The task at hand is no small feat for the Garden County who last tasted championship success in the 2007 Tommy Murphy Cup, overcoming a near neighbour of this weekend's opponent, Antrim.

Yet, in what will be their eighth match of the summer, McConville feels his side are growing with each passing week.

"I think playing week-on-week there actually helped us", he explained.

"We weren't doing a massive amount of thinking about it.

"I feel as if with the build-up and that, we've probably needed it. I think momentum is a massive thing and putting back-to-back wins together is great.

"We haven't had the opportunity to do that in the past. So getting those four wins and trying to play in the way we did and getting results when we needed to has definitely given us a nice platform going into this game and also a clean bill of health."

With heatwave like conditions likely to dominate the ebb and flow of the first senior football final of the summer, the Wicklow manager knows that the kick-out and controlling the flow of the game will be vital.

McConville's men overturned an eight-point half-time deficit to beat Offaly by five in the semi-final, and although it highlights their extra gears, patience might be more pivotal on Saturday.

On the kick-out specifically, McConville feels they "are the most important thing in the game".

"That's where people are always looking for control.

"That's the obvious place you get your control from, is having a good base on your own kick-out.

"What we've been trying to do is the same as what they're trying to do in that regard, and that we'll be trying to retain as much (possession) as we can, but also knowing that you are going to turn over an odd one.

"And when we do turn them over, we have to make the most of it at the top end of the pitch.

"Kick-outs are, for a lot of people, a very boring topic. But when you're in an inter-county set-up they are the most important thing. Now they have replaced everything.

"They've replaced the blanket defence and everything else."

Down reigned supreme in this competition as recently as 2024, so will be seen as the more experienced outfit heading to Jones's Road, but for McConville, a serial winner, resilience and belief can be the catalyst for his squad.

He told reporters: "People always talk about where you get your resilience from and unfortunately, it's usually with tough times and we've had a few tough defeats over the last couple of years.

"That definitely has helped us in regard to realising that we have the potential to challenge anybody and be up there with anybody but at the same time, there's got to be a stage where putting up a good show has to go and we have to replace that with a winning mentality.

"That's the last piece of the jigsaw. It's great to be in a Tailteann Cup final but it's not worth a big pile unless we actually go and win it."

Watch the Tailteann Cup final, Down v Wicklow, on Saturday from 3.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on all matches on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1

We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

Click here to read article