Tipperary and Cavan footballers ready to bounce back

22 November, 2020, is a date that Cavan or Tipperary football people won't ever forget.

For Tipp, years of underage progress and a prolonged run in the 2016 All-Ireland championship had shown what they were capable of.

But almost 100 years to the day that Bloody Sunday took place, their 85-year wait for a provincial title ended as they beat Cork to land their first Munster title since 1935.

A few hours later Cavan beat Donegal, ending a 23-year wait for the Ulster SFC title with an extraordinary performance of their own, one that was full of grit, to topple red-hot favourites Donegal.

Having been relegated from Division 2 just weeks earlier, they played four championship weekends on the trot, coming from behind more than once to get over the finishing line.

A year later, however, neither Tipperary nor Cavan were able to retain their titles. Before the summer even started, they were both relegated to Division 4 of the Allianz Football League, with Cavan losing to an inspired Wicklow team and Tipperary falling away to Longford.

This weekend, though, as the final group games loom, the two counties are back on a run, Cavan are top of Division 4 and Tipp are just behind them and they are looking to gain promotion once more.

It hasn’t been an easy campaign, but Division 4 rarely is.

Cavan lost to Tipp two weeks ago and only narrowly beat London last weekend. Yet, they will have an immediate return to Division 3, if they avoid defeat at home to Waterford.

Tipp know they will also be promoted if they beat London on Saturday evening in Thurles. But if Cavan hit the 11 or 12-point mark, and Tipp only manage a draw, they could be sucked into a head-to-head battle with Sligo or Leitrim. The Premier County beat Sligo, but lost to Leitrim.

That