IS cúis mhór áthais dom na focail seo a leanas a scrÃobh agus muid ag tnúth go mór le Cluiche Ceannais Chorn Tailteann 2025.
It gives me great pleasure to pen these words for the Limerick Post in anticipation of the final of this year’s Tailteann Cup as Limerick gear up to take on the challenge of Kildare at Croke Park.
It hardly seems like three years since the first staging of a competition that took some time to come into existence.
At the time the Association laid out its plans for a competition that would create a vehicle for meaningful and competitive games involving teams of a similar standard while at the same time providing a pathway towards football at the highest level.
It has succeeded on both fronts.
If Westmeath’s 2022 final success caught the public imagination, the victories achieved by Meath and Down in the years that followed were no less fruitful – as we have witnessed across this year’s championship.
It has already been a year to remember for the Limerick footballers achieving league promotion by finishing second in Division 3 before winning the final out against Wexford at Croke Park.
That form followed them into the Tailteann Cup where wins over Westmeath, Antrim, and London followed before Wexford and Wicklow were seen off in knock out action to confirm Saturday’s final involvement.
Jimmy Lee, his backroom team, and of course the players deserve great credit for the upturn in the county’s form and fortunes and for the feel good factor very evident with the game in the county.
This weekend they face perhaps their biggest challenge in the shape of Kildare on the fitting stage that is Croke Park.
I wish both teams and their supporters well and sincerely hope we are treated to a spectacle in keeping with the standard of fare we have seen to date across our two football competitions.
Go n-éirà go geal libh agus bainigà sult as an gcluiche agus as bhur gcuairt ar Pháirc an Chrócaigh má tá sibh ag taisteal.
by Jarlath Burns, GAA President
