Roscommon Minors

patmac

With all the understandable euphoria surrounding the Senior game there was another outstanding performance from a team from the West: Roscommon minors produced a memorable display to beat a highly fancied Meath team by 4 points, the first part of an 11-1 double with Mayo. RTE's coverage of the game was practically none existent. Felt sorry for O'Rourke (well almost) having to preview the Senior match with one eye on his son playing in the minor match at the same time.

joeblogg1

First of all UP ROS

Secondly as a Roscommon man there is no way I could ever ever ever feel the least bit sorry for that g*bsh*te Colm O Rourke.

I agree that the coverage of the minor game was crap. Why do RTE insist on showing that Leitrim/Louth Tommy Murphy Cup rubbish instead of the minor game.

Both the Roscommon and Meath minor teams have worked hard to get to an All Ireland Semi and deserved their moment in the spotlight

joeblogg1

I am now beginning a series of daily Novenas for Mayo and Roscommon as I would give anything to see two Kerry teams defeated on the same day just to get a look at Pat Spillane's face afterwards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

gucci

yeah a truely magic performance from a roscommon team who have been underdogs in pretty much every encounter they have pleyed in this championship!(perhaps with the exception of the Q final) the team posess a brilliant work ethic and discipline, something that has being lacking for years in similar teams and the management has to be commended for this.

the media coverage is disgraceful, the minor championship is very prestigous and of high quality, how the gaa/media have disgarded it for the tommy musphy cup(which they mock while showing it) is a joke!
Well done to louth yesterday on winning but to be honest they didnt look overly excited about it afterwards.

Goalpost hater

Congrats to Roscommon and their supporters.

It was perplexing to see you fervently cheering on your provincial friends. A first perhaps?

From my view you seemed to be more enthusiastic about Mayo winning than your own team winning the minor match. That said I was pleased to see your team winning.

It will be on Setanta Sports during the week if you want to see the match again.

Culchie

Up the Rossies !!

egan007

Jasus the Boards Rossies are comming out of the wood work today
Well done lads hopefully ye can repeat the performance in 3 weeks

(and hopefully in 3 years too as seniors )

come on the 'scommon

gucci

first time ever i cheered on mayo alright but yesterdays match you couldnt but get caught up in the atmosphere of it all!

threebeards

I was told this morning (and don't know how true it is) that this will be the Roscommon minors first All Ireland final since 1951. Is that an omen for Mayo or what???:D

DUB

Well done to Roscommon, that's a very useful meath team.

Flukey

I saw most though not all of the minor match. Roscommon were great. As a Dub with Roscommon connections, I'll be supporting the two Connacht teams against Kerry come All-Ireland Final day. Now to try to get a ticket.

natter

A lot more more senior players should take a look at the Roscommon tackling during this game. On at least 6 or 7 occasions during the game they just flicked a hand in and dispossessed the Meath player as he was soloing... it was wonderful to watch such effective tackling especially from such young players!

Best of luck in the final!!!

Figment

Well done to Roscommon. Some lovely football from the lads.

whassupp2

As a Rossie, I was delighted to see Ros winning yet.
Despite the fact that Mayo are our bitter rivals, and the fact that I hate Conor Mortimor I still was delighted to see Mayo win yesterday

gucci

me thinks rossies will have to spread theyre sources to mayo and beyond for tickets, apparently official allotment of tickets is 2000 for the final
ah well i suppose it will make it more exciting scrambling for tickets, would e no fun if it was straight forward!

Culchie

whassupp2 wrote:

As a Rossie, I was delighted to see Ros winning yet.
Despite the fact that Mayo are our bitter rivals, and the fact that I hate Conor Mortimor I still was delighted to see Mayo win yesterday

Unless you're from Boyle and the soccer brigade, as far as I'm aware the Mayo/Roscommon rivalry is a friendly one.

Mayo's local 'adversarys' are Galway, although I think Galway 'hate' Mayo, more than Mayo 'hate' Galway. (We also love all the Sawdoctors stuff:p )

The only county fans I ever had a problem with personally was Meath fans ... we had our noses well and truly rubbed in it in 1996, and then they were all home in bed by 9pm, so left Dorset Street completely to ourselves.

gucci

any roscommon fan who went to castelbar over the years and watched theyre team get a good hiding couldnt truely "support" mayo, its not a hate thing, its a pain thing!although as i said before you couldnt but cheer them on on sunday after a performance like that!

megadodge

The reason Mayo don't dislike Ros that much is because ye've been hammering the sh!te out of us for the guts of 15 years (with the memorable exception of 2001), but from a Ros perspective we're sick and tired losing to Mayo and then watching ye blow All-Irelands. At least if ye won the bloody thing we could say we were beaten by the champs instead of thinking "how could we ever lose to that shower of chokers".

Despite the fact that I had a sizeable bet on the Dubs to win out the All-Ireland and started quite neutral I couldn't help but get caught up in the whole occasion and was thrilled when the player that any Rossie would love to have on our team put over the winner.

Was also delighted for Kevin O'Neill (a non-typical Mayo forward if ever there was one) as I thought he was going to be an all-time great when he came on the scene first, but then disappeared....

Oops I nearly forgot, wonderful day for the Roscommon minors. Couldn't happen to a better guy than big Fergie. One of the shrewdest football brains out there and with the ultra-cute Decie Hoare by his side, here's hoping they can finish the job off.

Culchie

megadodge wrote:

Was also delighted for Kevin O'Neill (a non-typical Mayo forward if ever there was one) as I thought he was going to be an all-time great when he came on the scene first, but then disappeared....

He disappeared because a certain Manager didn't rate him despite the county supporters knowing better, same as Aidan Higgins, same as Austin O'malley to name but a few.

anyways, back to thread, Up the Rossies.

megadodge

What's the story with O'Malley at the moment ?

Culchie

megadodge wrote:

What's the story with O'Malley at the moment ?

In training with squad, just back from injury (as is Trevor Mortimer) ... should be available to play against Kerry.

Would like to see O'Neill in for Conroy from the start tbh, probably the only change I would make.
Billy Joe Padden has gone off the boil as well, so a bit of competition in training would be great, so Mortimer and O'Malley fit would be great
.....important that Moran has a selection headache

joeblogg1

Jesus
Seeing Fergal O Donnell on the Tv brings back memories (Happy ???? Maybe)
of years spent in Roscommon CBS. I think he was either one or 2 years behind me and he hasnt changed a bit since !!!!!

megadodge

he hasnt changed a bit since !!!!!

Personality - no.
Hairstyle - yes.

Seriously though, having played with and known him for years, even as a teenager I remember remarking that he'd make a great manager some day for two reasons.
1. His football intelligence. He knows football inside out. All the little things that add up to a great player he knows them and figured most of them out for himself. I know he never lived up to his underage promise on the senior front (due mainly to injury) but his whole life has been immersed in football and he is a very shrewd man.
2. He has a 'way' with people. Call it charisma, call it charm, call it whatever you want, but people respond very positively to him and more importantly he knows this and uses it constructively. eg. If you watch every time a player is taken off Fergie puts the arm around them and has a few words with them while completely ignoring what's going on on the pitch. I can guarantee those words are positive and mean a lot to a disappointed 17/18 year old. He's always encouraging people and that rubs off in a positive way.

nacho libre

Culchie wrote:

He disappeared because a certain Manager didn't rate him despite the county supporters knowing better, same as Aidan Higgins, same as Austin O'malley to name but a few.

John Maughan??

I recall after Roscommon squandered their advantage, early in the second-half against Galway, in the provinical semi-final, the camera focused in on Maughan and he was looking down at the ground as if to say what have I done!
Maughan, looks lost at sea when a game is not going his way. Moran, by contrast is able to read the game and make astute changes and rejig the formation of the team at key moments. this is the essence of a good manager, that and putting aside personal disputes for the betterment of the team.

Looking to the final;
Now, that Mayo have become better at scoring, as oppose to their penchant, in the past, for hitting wides from easy positions(Kevin McStay was outstanding in this regard), I think they can beat Kerry. The one worry i would have is Mortimer's lack of awareness sometimes. It would be quite something for Kerry to beaten twice on the one day!
For the likes of Nallen and Mc Donald I hope at least Mayo win. Two
long time servants of Mayo football and damn fine players deserve it!

Culchie

nacho libre wrote:

John Maughan??!

Correct

nacho libre wrote:

I recall after Roscommon squandered their advantage, early in the second-half against Galway, in the provinical semi-final, the camera focused in on Maughan and he was looking down at the ground as if to say what have I done!
Maughan, looks lost at sea when a game is not going his way. Moran, by contrast is able to read the game and make astute changes and rejig the formation of the team at key moments. this is the essence of a good manager, that and putting aside personal disputes for the betterment of the team.

Agreed, I have posted on this forum the last 18 months about this.
Great Managers in GAA are few and far between, they need to be tactically astute.
Kerry have one of the very best in this regard.

nacho libre wrote:

Looking to the final;
Now, that Mayo have become better at scoring, as oppose to their penchant, in the past, for hitting wides from easy position(Kevin McStay was outstanding in this regard), I think they can beat Kerry. The one worry i would have is Mortimer's lack of awareness sometimes. It would be quite something for Kerry to beaten twice on the one day!
For the likes of Nallen and Mc Donald I hope at least Mayo win. Two
long time servants of Mayo football and damn fine players deserve it!

I haven't got one worry, I have several:o

We haven't necessarily become 'better' ...we sure put in a better performance, one to match our potential the last day.

We'll have to see the next day if we still take our chances against Kerry, or will we back to our old habits of not being efficient enough.

I certainly think we've improved.... and we have good lads to bring in from the bench now, all pulling together.

My main worry, is my favourite player.... David Heaney. I just don't think he can handle Donaghy ... but I don't think he'll start on him.

My gut tells me Mayo will have some sort of plan for 'Star' ...let's face it they have to.

Let's not forget Mike Frank, Gooch, Kerry have plenty alternative match winners.

Midfield is going to be the deciding factor. Maughan made the critical mistake in 2004 of letting his personal issues with David Brady get in the way of proper decision making by not playing him... consequently the game was over after 20 minutes.

Wouldn't be surprised to see a 3rd midfielder brought in, maybe at the expense of Billy Joe Padden, try and stop the supply into the Kerry forward line.

I think we *can* win it .... but Kerry red hot favourites, and deservedly so.

Dilly1

The guy who scored Mayo's goal is a Rossie, Andy Moran. good day for Connacht all round.

Pity Leitrim didnt win, although I cannot understand why Louth were in that competition, they were flying in the league and gave Tyrone a run for their money during the summer, they would have given most counties problems.

Aido c

joeblogg1 wrote:

I would give anything to see two Kerry teams defeated on the same !!!!!!!!

I am beginning to feel that what should have been a straight forward enough final will be far from it .. .. ..

It actually makes a serious difference to a Kerry senior team to have a good Kerry minor showing on the day (eg. Kerry hammered by Meath, was preceeded by a poor minor display). I cannot quite figure out why, but I think that Kerry do trade off a certain amount of invincability that the shirt evokes. (there is another thread running on Away jerseys, that kinda lists what happens when they dont)

Anyway, our minors in the wrong hands can be complte head the balls, I think it comes with the hero worship they recieve, and they do recieve it in Kerry, and what that does to an 18 yo head. Add that to the support on All Ireland day and the nerves that brings, add that to a favourite tag....

Anyway... nervous now....

nacho libre

Culchie wrote:

Correct
I haven't got one worry, I have several:o

We haven't necessarily become 'better' ...we sure put in a better performance, one to match our potential the last day.

We'll have to see the next day if we still take our chances against Kerry, or will we back to our old habits of not being efficient enough.

I certainly think we've improved.... and we have good lads to bring in from the bench now, all pulling together.

My main worry, is my favourite player.... David Heaney. I just don't think he can handle Donaghy ... but I don't think he'll start on him.

My gut tells me Mayo will have some sort of plan for 'Star' ...let's face it they have to.

Let's not forget Mike Frank, Gooch, Kerry have plenty alternative match winners.

Midfield is going to be the deciding factor. Maughan made the critical mistake in 2004 of letting his personal issues with David Brady get in the way of proper decision making by not playing him... consequently the game was over after 20 minutes.

Wouldn't be surprised to see a 3rd midfielder brought in, maybe at the expense of Billy Joe Padden, try and stop the supply into the Kerry forward line.

I think we *can* win it .... but Kerry red hot favourites, and deservedly so.

In fairness not too many defenders could mark Donaghy. Considering Armagh's Francie Bellew struggled to. I think the suggestion you made to cut off the supply to him is a good one.
I couldn't agree more about not playing Brady from the start in 2004, it was disgraceful carry-on by Maughan. That's what i was referring to in my previous post.

gucci

Dilly1 wrote:

The guy who scored Mayo's goal is a Rossie, Andy Moran. good day for Connacht all round.

true true and a proud one at that!:D