'We need a trophy on the table' - Down eye Tailteann Cup redemption as opportunity knocks for 16 teams

Some of them may need a little space to realise it but opportunity knocks for the players on 16 inter-county panels who begin their Tailteann Cup campaign this weekend.

The likes of Down's Pierce Laverty reflected on what might have been when he spoke to RTE Sport this week.

Laverty was fully expecting to play championship football this weekend – only in the Ulster final instead of the Tailteann.

Down looked like they could beat Armagh for a fair chunk of the recent Ulster semi-final only to lose to a late winner from Jason Duffy.

That result ended the Mourne men's provincial title charge and denied them their place in the Sam Maguire series.

It’s a quick turnaround for Laverty to get his emotions in check and place his focus on another competition - but he says it has to be done.

"We fell short in last year’s final (against Meath)," he said.

"But this competition is crucial to our development to put a trophy on the table.

"We can take a lot from defeats over the past 12 months but now we must go learn from them and put things right. We need a trophy on the table and we want to win this competition."

Last year’s loss to Meath, this year’s league final loss to Westmeath and the narrow defeat to Armagh were tough ones to take.

"They were sore ones and the Armagh one will take a while to get over," he states.

"But we are making small progressions every year and we must push on now and test ourselves against the big teams.

"The week after that Armagh game there was a bit of flatness about, but we picked it up and went at it again in training. We want to win this competition."

Kildare’s Darragh Kirwan is another player from a team looking for silverware.

The Lilywhites' campaign has been much more demanding than Down’s but they are hopeful