An extraordinary minor football championship reaches its climax when Down and Mayo meet in the All-Ireland final at Croke Park. In a year when all of the provincial winners bowed out at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage, beaten Ulster and Connacht finalists Down and Mayo are the only two teams remaining in the race for the Tommy Markham Cup. The game is a repeat of the 1999 final which Down won by 1-14 to 0-14. Mayo, with current seniors such as Billy Joe Padden, James Gill and Alan Dillon on board, entered the final as favourites after trouncing Cork in the semi-final, but the Mournemen had other ideas and inspired by the likes of Liam Doyle, Benny Coulter, Michael Walsh and Ronan Sexton, they emerged as worthy winners. Down are bidding to win their fourth All-Ireland in the grade on Sunday, with their previous successes having come in 1977, '87 and '99. Mayo, whose last appearance in a minor final ended in defeat to Cork in 2000, are chasing their first title in 20 years and their seventh in all. Incidentally, their victory in 1966 came at the expense of the Mournemen. While Mayo carried the favourites' tag six years ago, Down are the fancied team this time around. Even in their Ulster final defeat to Armagh, they looked impressive and the manner in which they put Galway to the sword in the All-Ireland quarter-final will have been noted by Mayo who, of course, lost to the Tribesmen in the Connacht final. Managed by Mark Turley, who captained the county to a National League title win in 1983, the Down team is backboned by members of the St. Louis', Kilkeel side that captured the All-Ireland Colleges 'B' title last year and lost this year's MacRory Cup final to Omagh CBS after a replay. They signalled their intentions when ending Tyrone's reign as Ulster and All-Ireland champions with a dramatic 2-10 to 0-15 first round victory at Healy Park in May. Tyrone started with 10 of last season's all-conquering squad, but they were put on the back-foot after just three minutes when Paul McCumiskey goaled for the visitors. The Red Hands responded with some well-taken scores, but still trailed by 0-6 to 1-4 at the interval. The sides were level on four occasions in the third quarter before Colm Cavanagh gave Tyrone the lead for the first time. When impressive substitute Niall McGinn pointed in the 63rd minute to give Tyrone a two-point advantage, they looked to be on their way to the semi-final but, after Sean O'Neill was sent off for a second yellow card offence, they failed to clear the resultant free and midfielder James Colgan blasted to the net to give Down the win. In the Ulster semi-final, the Mournemen needed two attempts before overcoming Cavan. Both games were tense affairs and it took another injury-time score from team captain Colgan to separate the sides. In the replay at Crossmaglen, the teams were level on 0-4 each at the interval before Down opened up a five-point lead on the restart. However, the Breffnimen got themselves back into contention when Killian Sheridan swooped for the only goal and it looked as though extra-time would be needed until Colgan pointed to give Down a 0-13 to 1-9 victory. Down experienced heartbreak in the Ulster final at Croke Park when they succumbed to Armagh by 0-10 to 0-11 after Kevin Duffin had a late penalty saved by Orchard County goalkeeper John McKeever. Armagh full back Kieran Toner dragged down wing forward Ryan Kelly to concede the penalty with just five minutes remaining and two points separating the sides. However, wing back Duffin saw his shot brilliantly saved by the Armagh custodian. Martin Clarke did add a point from the resultant '45', but Armagh hung on for victory. There was very little to choose between the sides throughout. Down started the better and were 0-3 to 0-1 in front after seven minutes. However, Armagh fought back to lead by 0-8 to 0-7 at the break. The second half was a scrappy affair, with Armagh holding a 0-11 to 0-9 lead when the penalty was awarded. Despite the miss, Down had chances to force a replay but couldn't take them as Armagh prevailed by the minimum margin. The Mournemen got their All-Ireland ambitions back on track when beating Galway by 1-17 to 2-11 in the All-Ireland quarter-final at Carrick-on-Shannon. The sides shared 10 points in a lively opening quarter before Galway made the breakthrough with an Owen Concannon goal. However, Down responded immediately with a goal of their own from Martin Clarke and despite conceding a second goal to Concannon, they went on to lead by 1-10 to 2-6 at the break. Clarke increased the Ulster side's lead before Galway equalized. However, Down upped their performance after that and an array of exquisite points put them well clear before the Tribesmen staged a late comeback which was to prove too little, too late. In their All-Ireland semi-final joust against Offaly, Down struggled to shake off the beaten Leinster finalists until the closing stages when their killer instinct finally surfaced and saw them pull away for a 1-15 to 1-7 victory. Offaly were just three points adrift until a late Down rally yielded a goal from substitute Richard Kerr as well as points from Ciaran Brannigan and Peter Fitzpatrick. Mayo opened their campaign with a 4-12 to 0-7 trouncing of a highly-rated Roscommon team at Castlebar. Inspired by midfielders Seamus O'Shea and Tom Parsons, they took an early grip on proceedings despite playing into the strong wind. They led by 1-6 to 0-5 at the interval thanks to a superb goal from centre forward Martin Conroy in the 16th minute. On the restart, Mayo continued to dominate and proceeded to score almost at will. They added a further 3-6 to their tally with the goals coming from Enda Kenny, David Kilcullen and Dara Hughes. Roscommon's cause was not helped by poor finishing, which included a penalty miss. Bitter disappointment was to follow for Mayo when they lost the Connacht final by 0-9 to 0-10 to a Galway team that finished the game with just 13 players at Pearse Stadium. Mayo opened brightly and had raced into a 0-4 to 0-1 lead at the end of the first quarter. But the home side replied with four points on the trot, two of which came from the impressive Owen Concannon. The sides twice exchanged points in the lead-up to half-time, with Galway taking a 0-7 to 0-6 lead into the break. Mayo dominated the third quarter, but only managed to add two points from Aiden Campbell and Chris Barrett. David Neary brought Galway back onto level terms with 11 minutes remaining before Concannon edged them in front with a brace of points. Campbell reduced the deficit to the minimum but despite their numerical advantage, Mayo couldn't force an equalizer. After the Connacht final, Mayo manager Eugene Ivers predicted that his team would bounce back and they did just that when recording a surprise 0-10 to 1-6 victory over Down's Ulster final conquerors, Armagh, in the All-Ireland quarter-final. With Aidan Campbell and Pierce Hanley in fine scoring form, the Westerners led by 0-10 to 0-6 in stoppage time, but endured a late scare when a Colm Watters goal left just the minimum between the sides. In what was their first visit to Croke Park this year, Mayo survived a stirring Kerry fightback to qualify for the All-Ireland final on a 1-12 to 0-14 scoreline. An Aidan Campbell goal helped the Connacht side to a 1-5 to 0-7 lead at the interval and after goalkeeper Shane Nallen saved a penalty from Paul O'Connor, they stretched their lead to six points with seven minutes remaining. However, they had to live on their nerves as Kerry reduced the deficit to the minimum, had a goal-bound shot deflected onto the post and held their breath as Paul O'Connor had the distance but not the accuracy from a last-minute '45'. Despite the recent controversy about minor teams being denied the chance to strut their stuff in Croke Park, both finalists have experience of playing at the venue this year. Down will be looking for big performances from the likes of Peter Fitzpatrick, James Colgan, Martin Clarke and their electric 16-year-old corner forward Ciaran Brannigan as they bid to cross this final hurdle. They have also been boosted by the return of key defender Shane O'Hagan, who has recovered from a broken leg and was introduced against Offaly. Mayo's key performers are defenders Ger Cafferkey, Tom Cunniffe, midfielders Seamus O'Shea and Pierce Hanley and forwards Aidan Campbell and Padraic O'Connor. They will have taken huge confidence from the wins over Armagh and Kerry and will be hell-bent on bringing a long overdue All-Ireland title back to the county. But for Mayo to win, they must end a long losing sequence of All-Ireland defeats at all levels and that won't be easy against a county whose record in All-Ireland finals is second to none. Down suffered a rare All-Ireland final defeat to Galway at under 21 level earlier this year and, while Mark Turley's team let Armagh off the hook in the Ulster final and left the door open for Offaly for a long time, they have the all-round ability to pile further misery on Mayo. Verdict: Down. Tweet

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