Limerick senior football captain Cillian Fahy: 'Tailteann Cup gives us a chance of playing championship games in the summer'

LIMERICK senior football captain Cillian Fahy has highlighted the significance of the Tailteann Cup in providing counties like Limerick with the opportunity to play meaningful championship football during the summer months. In a recent interview with the Limerick Leader, Fahy expressed his enthusiasm for the competition, stating that it offers teams a valuable platform to compete at a high level and gain crucial experience.

"I think the Tailteann Cup is brillant, it gives a lot to aim for. It gives us a realistic chance of playing championship games in the middle of the summer where you're really going into these games feeling like you have a chance of winning. It gives an extra or six weeks in the year where you get high quality training, it keeps the group together for longer.

"It's a great place for teams to get that extra time together and build towards stepping up the levels over a couple of years. It'll be a huge benefit to us this year and however many more years we play in it," said Limerick senior football captain Cillian Fahy. 

This Sunday, Limerick take on Wexford in the quarter-final of the Tailteann Cup at 3:45pm in the TUS Gaelic Grounds. Limerick booked a direct route to the quarter-finals by topping their group in the round robin phase of the competition, winning all three of their fixtures against London, Antrim and Westmeath. 

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The Shannonsiders have been defeated at the quarter-final stage by Laois and Sligo in the last two years. A win this weekend will see Limerick advance to the semi-finals of the Tailteann Cup in Croke Park next weekend, while that is an aim for Limerick captain Cillian Fahy said it's not something they can think about this weekend. 

"Croke Park is biggest stage for gaelic games in the country, you want to play there as much as possible. That's the reward at the end of this game but we are not thinking about that yet. It would be wrong of us to think forward with the big challenge we have this weekend. It's all about the Gaelic Grounds and the threat that Wexford pose."

Sunday will be Limerick's second time this year playing in the TUS Gaelic Grounds. Jimmy Lee's side faced Cork in the Munster SFC quarter-final in April at the Ennis-road venue. 

"The Gaelic Grounds is the biggest pitch in the county, when you are going as a child to these county games you're excited going into the Gaelic Grounds. We as players get that aswell, it's great to be given the opportunity to go in and play in the premier sports ground in the county," added the Dromcollogher Broadford clubman. 

This is the second time this year Limerick have played in the TUS Gaelic Grounds. Limerick and Wexford met twice this year in Division 4 of the Allianz Football League.

Lee's side defeated Wexford in Division four League final by two points in Croke Park while the Slaneysiders got the better of Limerick by four points in round two of the league.

"The first day in the league, I thought Wexford were excellent and they were far better than us that day. The league final could have gone either way, it's going to be a difficult game. We know how good Wexford are and we will prepare as best we can and we will see what happens."

Limerick sharpshooter James Naughton has been in impressive form scoring 0-18, while Emmet Rigter has chipped with 0-7 during the competition to date.

"James and Emmet are two outstanding talents, James is playing the football of his life. Emmet is a brillant young player and he's only going to get better aswell. They're really two important players for us, while they have contributed a lot of a scores. There has been a spread of scorers across the team, we'll be hoping they'll be able to again at the weekend. Hopefully we can chip in and help them aswell."