Roscommon GAA Discussion Thread

Syferus

There seems to be a few Rossies on the forum and even though the seniors are done for this year there's still plenty going on, not least the minors great run and the county championship likely to restart very soon.

So. A thread for it all!

emc2

Any idea when the minors play the Semi final and who they're up against?

I know the last 4 are Roscommon, Tipp, Dublin and Galway. So is it Tipp or Dublin that we have next?

dcr22B

Roscommon v Tipp, Sunday 21st August

Dubs v Galway, Sunday 28th August

patmac

Will be tough against Tipp and very likely Dublin in the final if they progress.
Dublin results
16th April - Dublin (4-15) Westmeath (0-8)
14th May - Dublin (0-10)Longford (0-5)
29th June - Dublin (1-24) Kildare (0-11)
10th July - Dublin (2-18) Meath (1-11)
1st August - Dublin (1-11) Cork (1-3)

Some seriously big wins there. Only Longford who were reigning champions gave them any kind of a game.

rossie1977

roscommon played poorly in that match against armagh outside the last 10 minutes leading into half time when they outscored armagh 5 points to zero, apart from that i thought armagh were the better team on the day, if we play like that against tipp they will beat us, no two ways about it, tipp have more lethal forwards than armagh had/have and won't be running into blind alleys in the corner when they should be popping over the points, armagh also lacked a freetaker on saturday, had they one they would have won the game, tipp have a couple of excellent free takers

i have been to all the minor games this year, our victories prior to saturday were built on dominating midfield and getting the ball to donie smith who did the rest, against armagh we were beaten well in the middle and smith had an offday yet we still pulled it out of the fire, the bottle and leadership shown by thomas corcoran was unreal, that winning point was even more incredible considering he was being treated for cramp not less than a minute before stepping up to take that kick

dublin are unbackable for the minor now, some bookies are giving them at 1/4 and roscommon next best price at 6 and 7-1, i believe galway will give them a good game though, its hard to know how strong leinster is, longford play in the connacht minor league and we beat them 4-15 to 0-3 earlier in the year in that, cork were beaten by tipp in the munster final just as much as dublin beat them

Syferus

rossie1977 wrote: »

i have been to all the minor games this year, our victories prior to saturday were built on dominating midfield and getting the ball to donie smith who did the rest, against armagh we were beaten well in the middle and smith had an offday yet we still pulled it out of the fire, the bottle and leadership shown by thomas corcoran was unreal, that winning point was even more incredible considering he was being treated for cramp not less than a minute before stepping up to take that kick

I was down near the corner where he took both of his big kicks and for the match winner he had to try and limber up directly before kicking it because of the cramp. To say it was something special doesn't do it justice. The amount of times Kavanagh for Kildare missed from the same area while being under far less pressure just shows that Corcoran has the head and the skill that means he has senior written all over him. And best part is he'll be minor eligible next year too!

davegrohl48

I was shocked when I learned he was minor next year. Some prospect and a player like this will hopefully add to Roscommons competitiveness.
Hopefully Ros fans can keep their patience over the next 2/3 years. O'Donnell has worked a minor miracle literally in the case of minor scene.
Where would the Roscommon minor scene be only for O'Donnell dragging it up by the scruff of the neck a few years ago. There now seems to be a conveyor belt of talent and 2/3 decent players a year with the odd gem like Corcoran can work wonders for a senior panel.
Corcorans father was a wonderfully skilled corner forward for Strokestown for anyone who saw him, Rossies would know him from the club scene.

gaelic cowboy

Hard luck to the seniors but well done to the minors, Armagh will be scratching there heads on how they lost this one Corcoran lad looks a mighty prospect too.

yabadabado

good idea for a thread,seem to be plenty of rossies on this site.

emc2

rossie1977 wrote: »

i have been to all the minor games this year, our victories prior to saturday were built on dominating midfield and getting the ball to donie smith who did the rest, against armagh we were beaten well in the middle and smith had an offday yet we still pulled it out of the fire, the bottle and leadership shown by thomas corcoran was unreal, that winning point was even more incredible considering he was being treated for cramp not less than a minute before stepping up to take that kick

I though Kelly next to Corcoran played well against Armagh too (until he ran out of steam and was subbed). Armagh had a very tall midfield and I was suprised we didn't try to mix up our kick outs. I was well impressed by the team spirit and attitude that the Roscommon Minors showed. Tipp will be a big test for us, they look to be doing what we did in '07.

sendit

Are the Roscommon minor & Under 21 hurlers playing the the B Championships this year? There normanly strong enough

rossie1977

emc2 wrote: »

Tipp will be a big test for us, they look to be doing what we did in '07.

tipp have the same underage structure in place we have and its really paying off for them last 5 years or so, they reached four under 21 munster finals in a row between 2007 and 2010, finally winning one last year (their first ever) against kerry, at minor level its a similar story, they have reached four out the last six finals in munster

Syferus

sendit wrote: »

Are the Roscommon minor & Under 21 hurlers playing the the B Championships this year? There normanly strong enough

Don't know about the hurling but the Donegal vs. Roscommon Minor B quarter-final is on at 3pm Saturday in Ballyshannon: http://www.gaa.ie/fixtures-and-results/

gaelic cowboy

Reading the Roscommon Herald today you get the feelin O'Donnell might call a halt, he talks of lack of progress etc etc.


What do Boards Rossies think?

Syferus

Fergie's being way too hard on himself, he's brought up some fantastic minor teams into the bones of a serious senior team that's only starting to spread its wings.

We've had no controversy over the last three years, just good, hard work towards returning the county team to the level we always have aimed to be at. It'd be a real shame if he was to leave at this point. It's hard to forget all the manger versus team confrontations over the last decade and having a manager that the team like and want to play for alone cannot be over rated, the last thing a young team needs is disruption and discontinuation. The county board needs to do jsut about everything in their power to ensure they sign up Fergal to a new contract so he can keep working with the senior team and help bring through players like Cathal Shine, Niall Daly and in the future prospects like McManus, Corcoran and Donie Smith.

If he does leave, who do we go after? I've been very impressed by Ross Shannon at minor level this year, he got the team in great shape and his susituations always seem to show a good understanding of where the team is failing. He'd obviously be in the Fergal mold of being well-equipped to bring younger players through. In fantasy land (or in other words outside managers, where we've been burnt on a few occasions recently) I'd fancy someone in the Kieran McGeeney mold because I think the biggest thing the team need to work on isn't skill-sets but physicality and fitness. If we had the gas Kildare have we could well have beat Tyrone on Saturday.

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

gaelic cowboy wrote: »

Reading the Roscommon Herald today you get the feelin O'Donnell might call a halt, he talks of lack of progress etc etc.


What do Boards Rossies think?

hope he doenst, i love the style of football he brought to the team. He is a good manager, and is well respected in the county

nice_guy80

how are the minors shaping up for Sunday week?

also, I see the Under 16s don't seem to be of the same vintage as recent teams - after losing out in the Tedd Webb cup and Fr Manning final.

rossie1977

nice_guy80 wrote: »

also, I see the Under 16s don't seem to be of the same vintage as recent teams - after losing out in the Tedd Webb cup and Fr Manning final.

seems our conveyor belt of talent is coming to an end after next years batch of minors all right, we got turned over by galway in the ted webb and hammered last night by westmeath in the manning cup

Syferus

rossie1977 wrote: »

seems our conveyor belt of talent is coming to an end after next years batch of minors all right, we got turned over by galway in the ted webb and hammered last night by westmeath in the manning cup

As long as the systems are there we'll be able to find players and people of real quality. We can't expect to win everything every year, so a loss here or there doesn't really mean the talent isn't there - Kerry, for all their success, haven't won a minor All-Ireland in 17 years. Underage has to be geared towards player development rather than simply results.


Oh, and I've got my tickets for Sunday next - center field on the Hogan Stand. Damn happy with these seats!

Syferus

Anyone else heading to the match? And how do you think it'll play out?

Syferus

Syferus wrote: »

As long as the systems are there we'll be able to find players and people of real quality. We can't expect to win everything every year, so a loss here or there doesn't really mean the talent isn't there - Kerry, for all their success, haven't won a minor All-Ireland in 17 years. Underage has to be geared towards player development rather than simply results.


Oh, and I've got my tickets for Sunday next - center field on the Hogan Stand. Damn happy with these seats!

Very True. Alot of lads on premierview saying ye are meant to have a right good crop of minors. We have done very well ourselves but id imagine we are underdogs against yourselves?

Syferus

Deleted User wrote: »

Very True. Alot of lads on premierview saying ye are meant to have a right good crop of minors. We have done very well ourselves but id imagine we are underdogs against yourselves?

Only very slightly in the bookies' (6/4 for Tipp, 4/6 for Roscommon) and most Roscommon fans' books. Tipp certainly didn't get lucky to find themselves in the semi-finals and their record speaks for itself.

I doubt the sight of Roscommon jerseys will give Tipp nightmares in the lead-up either, and vice vesra. It has the potential to be a very good game of football. The biggest worry for Tipp might be fouls because our long range free-taker (Corcoran) has been in unbelievable form lately.

rossie1977

Deleted User wrote: »

Very True. Alot of lads on premierview saying ye are meant to have a right good crop of minors. We have done very well ourselves but id imagine we are underdogs against yourselves?

we were really poor last day out against armagh and from what i have seen of tipp they are a better side than armagh especially from placed balls, we start every game extremely slowly for whatever reason, its not till after the 10th minute or so we seem to start playing at all, against mayo in castlebar we were 1-1 down after 2 minutes but then completely outplayed mayo from the 10th minute onward, against galway we barely got out of our own 45 in the first 10mins and then over-ran them from the 12th min till halftime

any team that beats kerry, cork and meath in the run-in to the semi final have to be good, dublin beat cork (by same amount tipp did) and meath and now they are unbackable to win the whole thing........bookies

yabadabado

heading to this on Sunday and really looking forward to it.Some really exciting players on the team,they will need to step it up from the Armagh game.I thought they were poor that day and were lucky to win it but hopefully it will help them on Sunday having played in Croker on a big day and came away with the win.

Syferus

rossie1977 wrote: »

we were really poor last day out against armagh and from what i have seen of tipp they are a better side than armagh especially from placed balls, we start every game extremely slowly for whatever reason, its not till after the 10th minute or so we seem to start playing at all, against mayo in castlebar we were 1-1 down after 2 minutes but then completely outplayed mayo from the 10th minute onward, against galway we barely got out of our own 45 in the first 10mins and then over-ran them from the 12th min till halftime

any team that beats kerry, cork and meath in the run-in to the semi final have to be good, dublin beat cork (by same amount tipp did) and meath and now they are unbackable to win the whole thing........bookies

Wouldn't say we were really poor, looking back at the highlights on TG4 Armagh were shooting points that'd make Gooch jealous. I got the sense we were always a step behind Armagh in the second half and were it not for that missed point that dropped into the square we probably would have lost.

That said, we battled back from 0-4 to 0-1 to Armagh to 0-4 to 0-6 in our favour at half-time and the resilience and skill the team showed to come back from four points down in extra-time - after Armagh had dominated play for about 40 minutes by that point - was something special. No team can control tight games for 70 minutes and the ultimate judgement on the level of performance is did you win or did you lose.

It takes that little extra upstairs to be able to do what our minors did the last day and I came away thinking an All-Ireland title may not be beyond this team.

gaelic cowboy

Young Corcoran was the key in my view, the point to level it was fantastic for such a young player and from a good distance out too.

aidan24326

rossie1977 wrote: »

any team that beats kerry, cork and meath in the run-in to the semi final have to be good, dublin beat cork (by same amount tipp did) and meath and now they are unbackable to win the whole thing........bookies

Dublin have been impressive so far, though I do think the bookies have them way too short. There's definitely value in backing one of the other three at this stage.

Current odds with Paddy Power:

Dublin 2/5
Ros 5/1
Galway 11/2
Tipp 9/1

leonidas83

Cameron Whispering Ball wrote: »

hope he doenst, i love the style of football he brought to the team. He is a good manager, and is well respected in the county

I dont know, i like him and think he has done gr8 for the county but maybe a different approach would be better for Roscommon

Syferus

leonidas83 wrote: »

I dont know, i like him and think he has done gr8 for the county but maybe a different approach would be better for Roscommon

If he can find a 70 minute version of what we played against (some of the most positive and skilful football played by any team) Tyrone for 55 minutes then we'll be very hard to beat by any team, no matter who they are. Who exactly would bring more to us than Fergal.

rossie1977

roscommon named same team that started against armagh, if i was kevin finn i would be asking myself what more i can do to start on this team, i know people will say he is a good man to bring on and that he is only 16 but the kid should be starting and he was best roscommon forward on display when he came on against armagh after 20mins

Syferus

rossie1977 wrote: »

roscommon named same team that started against armagh, if i was kevin finn i would be asking myself what more i can do to start on this team, i know people will say he is a good man to bring on and that he is only 16 but the kid should be starting and he was best roscommon forward on display when he came on against armagh after 20mins

I'd say Fintan Sweeney was even more impressive, but Finn was superb as well. I agree with Ross Shannon's decision to go with the first 15 as players like Shane Jordan hardly played badly and you really don't know how he'd work if you switched roles and had him coming off the bench. Stick with what's working is what I'd say, an All-Ireland semi-final isn't the time to be sticking your fist in the pie and fiddling about unless it's essential.

rossie1977

finns been superb all season though, was great in the minor league where he started every game and played really well against new york and then got dropped

four of our starting forwards don't score enough thats pretty clear looking back, finn has a total of 4-11 this season, compare that to liam conlon who has scored a total of 0-1 and he starts in the forwards

if tipp hold donnie smith roscommon are in massive trouble from open play imo

wow sierra

sendit wrote: »

Are the Roscommon minor & Under 21 hurlers playing the the B Championships this year? There normanly strong enough

Under 21 Hurlers playing Kerry tomorrow in All Ireland B semi final - 2pm in Toomevara, Tipp.

Minors playing final V Meath Saturday 27th - don't know venue.

nice_guy80

a lot of GAA teams are realising the value of having quality fresh players to come in and change a game, especially when the opponent you come in to mark is tiring

Syferus

So we lost. Starting slow caught up with us yesterday, it took us about 40 minutes to get a handle on the game and from then on we were by far the superior side but you just can't give teams of Tipp's quality a 40 minute spot before kicking into gear. The determination it took for us to battle back after conceding that goal right after half-time was heart-warming, Tipp had drawn back everyone to defend afterwards and we still were able to pass our way to scores and opportunities.

I can't be too disappointed, this minor team have represented the county with real pride and skill this year and a good few of the key players will be there to have another stab at it next year. The saddest part is I still think this team was very capable of winning an All-Ireland but that's history now, all the players can do now is use that disappointment to feed into next season, be it at minor or u-21 level.

yop

No 4 had a great game I thought and the No 13 was excellent. Just a lot of mistakes and nerves but a good side them. Good to see "new" teams like Ros and Tipp coming through.
Great support up there from Ros.

Syferus

yop wrote: »

No 4 had a great game I thought and the No 13 was excellent. Just a lot of mistakes and nerves but a good side them. Good to see "new" teams like Ros and Tipp coming through.
Great support up there from Ros.

Don't know how 'new' it is, though! Both Roscommon and Tipp have been at here or here abouts at minor level for about half a decade, Roscommon even beat Tipp on the way to the 2006 All-Ireland title.

yop

Read something in the program it been outside of the normal teams in semis, God knows, must have mis-read it!

Syferus

yop wrote: »

Read something in the program it been outside of the normal teams in semis, God knows, must have mis-read it!

It was Tipp's first since 1984 alright but it'd be wrong-headed for this to be framed as a novel pairing in the context of what both counties have been doing at underage for quite some time now.

rossie1977

yop wrote: »

Read something in the program it been outside of the normal teams in semis, God knows, must have mis-read it!

i had to laugh at that article in yesterdays program, they said tyrone, cork, kerry and i think mayo were regulars at this stage last few years and basically stated roscommon and tipp were newbies even though cork have only reached one minor semi final since 2002 and that was last year and roscommon won minor in 2006, contested 3 quarters since (only losing to eventual champions galway in 2007 and tyrone in 2008)

onto ydays match, the warning signs were there in the armagh game and like i said the other week tipp would take their chances if presented then unlike armagh, i think our lads left in behind in connacht, they clearly didn't show the bite, drive and determination last two games they showed in june and july, once again we were destroyed in midfield after totally dominating midfield against mayo and galway, the tactic of kicking it into the corner in the first half was daft and every time the tipp lad won, shannon waited far to long to make the changes, kelly should have been taken off at half-time, sweeney needed to come on earlier and donnie smith should have been playing through the middle

Mountainlad

Well Tipp are relatively new. Also, Ian Fahey is about 6'6 maybe an inch smaller, no less. Winning high ball against him was always going to be difficult.

Syferus

Mountainlad wrote: »

Well Tipp are relatively new. Also, Ian Fahey is about 6'6 maybe an inch smaller, no less. Winning high ball against him was always going to be difficult.

Agreeed. I think our real failing in midfield was letting some of the breaking ball be mopped up by the Tipp middle third.

Mountainlad

Syferus wrote: »

Agreeed. I think our real failing in midfield was letting some of the breaking ball be mopped up by the Tipp middle third.

Missed a good bit of the second half, but from what I saw of it first half, Tipp seemed to be moving the ball quicker. That made a big difference, and that the ball wasn't used wisely by Roscommon early on.

Syferus

Mountainlad wrote: »

Missed a good bit of the second half, but from what I saw of it first half, Tipp seemed to be moving the ball quicker. That made a big difference, and that the ball wasn't used wisely by Roscommon early on.

Yeah, it was only past 40 minutes Roscommon started to really kick into gear and pass the ball like we knew they could. By that time Tipp had really started to shut up shop so it just highlighted the ability of our team to be able to slice Tipp's deference open enough to get within two, we had two or three goal chances in the final 15 and Corcoran missed two relatively point-able free as well. We just started way too slow, even starting to play five minutes earlier and we'd have had ever chance of winning the game. Another 'glorious' defeat for the wall.

Certainly don't think the team 'left it behind' in Connacht, their skill, determination and nerves were better than most senior teams against Armagh in the quarter-final and there was plenty of good play in the last period against Tipp.

yop

rossie1977 wrote: »

i had to laugh at that article in yesterdays program, they said tyrone, cork, kerry and i think mayo were regulars at this stage last few years and basically stated roscommon and tipp were newbies even though cork have only reached one minor semi final since 2002 and that was last year and roscommon won minor in 2006, contested 3 quarters since (only losing to eventual champions galway in 2007 and tyrone in 2008)

Ah so I wasn't seeing things! For a while I was wondering if I should up the drugs!

Syferus

Just back from the Dermot Earley memorial unveiling ceremony in Gorthaganny, there was a great turnout from around the county, Kildare and the army. Most of the 70's-80's team that played with Dermot where there, as was Micheal O'Muircheartaigh (who's an even greater man in the flesh than he is on radio) and even Kildare senior players, not least of which being Johnny Doyle. The president unveiled the statue - of Dermot eternally in action for Roscommon - and gave a great speech, as did David Earley, Dermot's eldest son.

The memorial is right beside his family home, where his 91 year-old mother still lives, adjacent to the primary school that he went to (and the reason his father moved to Gorthaganny in the first place) and across the road is the field where he kicked his first football, so it's as fitting tribute as you could imagine to perhaps the greatest Roscommon player of all time, and easily one of the greatest men ever to be born on these isles. He embodied everything good we want to see in ourselves and he is, rightfully, nothing short of a hero to the people of Roscommon.

The memories will live forever.



Lt. Gen. Dermot Earley DSM, 1948-2010

rossie1977

western gaels laid down a marker yesterday with a comprehensive win against recent roscommon champions castlerea, cathal cregg by all accounts had a wonderful game, the semi final with st bridgets (should they beat strokestown as is expected) is sure to be a cracker

Syferus

rossie1977 wrote: »

western gaels laid down a marker yesterday with a comprehensive win against recent roscommon champions castlerea, cathal cregg by all accounts had a wonderful game, the semi final with st bridgets (should they beat strokestown as is expected) is sure to be a cracker

I'd imagine it'll be the county final in all but name. Was supprised Gaels won, let alone so well. They have Higgins, Cregg, McDermott and Ward from the seniors but outside Derek Moran a big portion of the good panel players from the 2009 county final are gone. Brigid's gave a hammering to Gaels in the group stage this year but you'd hope that Gaels will be extra motivated to finally win the county title their team sheet has deserved for a few years now.

My head says Brigid's but my heart wants Gaels to bring the county championship back to west Roscommon.

yabadabado

Anyone go to the semi-finals yesterday?Was away for the weekend so couldnt go and I didnt get to listen to it on the radio,were they good games?

rossie1977

yabadabado wrote: »

Anyone go to the semi-finals yesterday?Was away for the weekend so couldnt go and I didnt get to listen to it on the radio,were they good games?

they were both poor enough matches, i expected western gaels to at least put up a fight but 6 points from a team with more county players than any club in roscommon is an awful return

Syferus

rossie1977 wrote: »

they were both poor enough matches, i expected western gaels to at least put up a fight but 6 points from a team with more county players than any club in roscommon is an awful return

Brigid's are a step ahead of everyone in Roscommon and, indeed, Connacht at this point. Gaels have four or five players of high quality, Brigids have a team filled with players from well-known footballing families and a depth that means their B team is able to challenge for the intermediate county title, so the result was about right.

I can't see Elphin stopping Brigid's and I doubt any Connacht team will hold much fear for them at this point.