Roscommon GAA Discussion Thread

rn

I can't believe Pat Flanagan is still in the running, this long after Pearses knocked out. I think he was great for Pearses, but not inter County level.

theoneeyedman

Interesting County Final ahead. After a horrid morning rain, looks like it'll be clear for the game if wet greasy under foot. One would imagine a bigger more physical Strokestown will be more suited to the conditions, but who knows, it's all to play for. Hoping for a good game

rn

Good game, 6 apiece at half time. Very unfortunate serious injuries to boyle and Strokestown.

theoneeyedman

Decent game, somewhat marred and ruined as a spectacle in the first half by bad injuries to Brogan and McKeon, hopefully they recover quickly.

Tough defeat for Boyle. 2 very even teams that were nervy enough as the game wore on - Town just held their nerve a little better and Tony Lavin coming on and getting the ball twice, the second time kicking a winning point woth his weaker foot.

Some good performances, big men like Mullooley and Butler did trojan work for the winners, Enda had a big influence but waned a bit late on, Donie with an outrageous point from 55 yards to seemingly secure a draw was a highlight. I don't know who got MOTM but Colm Neary has to be in the running, he was brilliant throughout.

Strokestown v Tourlestrane in Connacht AFAIK, they won't care this evening, but a winnable tie of they can dry out for it.

megadodge

Although I was officially neutral, I was honestly hoping for a Boyle win. Not that I begrudged Strokestown.

It was good for football in the county to have two northern sides in the final and that was reflected in the attendance. It was the biggest crowd I ever saw at a Roscommon County Final.

After the torrential rain in the morning, it turned into a perfect day for football. No wind, no rain, perfect pitch. It was a little greasy early on, but after that twas fine. The first half was full of really good football, but unfortunately the two injuries dampened the mood a bit. I honestly think McKeown's loss was huge for Boyle. I really believe he would have contributed in the second half, especially towards the end when Boyle lacked an outlet up front and someone capable of finishing off moves.

The second half was very tense but all the excitement was crammed into the last 10 minutes. I was sure Ollie (who actually had a good game) was going to blow up after Donie's massive equaliser, but he didn't and Mullooly made a fantastic burst which caused the overlap which finished with the winner.

Young Neary was just outstanding. What a prospect! He did get the MOM award and nobody was surprised.

Anyway, well done Strokestown. Hard luck Boyle.

Always_Running

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119783519#Comment_119783519

It's the winner of Mayo or Galway champion in the semi final. One of Salthill, Moycullen (managed by a Rossie Don Connellan) Westport or Ballina.

theoneeyedman

OK, I stand corrected.

Don't think they'll make much impression either way, from what I hear there are a couple of lads moving away in the coming weeks so it's not a priority. Shouldn't take away from yesterday's win though.

blowitupref

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119778941#Comment_119778941

Just two candidates now and manager to be chosen at the county board meeting on Wednesday night it seems.

https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/davy-burke-and-brendan-hackett-in-frame-for-roscommon-football-job-42092429.html

megadodge

Davy Burke it is.

Mark McHugh as coach apparently.

blowitupref

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119797598#Comment_119797598

Looks like the best choice of 3 candidates. McHugh is interesting choice of coach. I Presume the selectors will be rossies.

theoneeyedman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119798395#Comment_119798395

Eddie Lohan confirmed as one, some rumours about others but nothing official yet, better to wait for confirmation I guess.

Backroom team critical, S&C and all areas of gameplay really, both defensive organisation and team attack play.

Rome wasn't built in a day, and a tough D1 campaign ahead. Win 2 games is probably the realistic target, and build during the group stages of the championship. It's a 3 year deal, and it might take at least 2 of those 3 years to see realistic progress.

Patience required, good luck to Burke and his team.

blowitupref

NFL fixtures for Roscommon, 4 home games with the opener against the 2021 AI champions and coach Mark McHugh faces his own Donegal in round 7.

Tyrone (H)

Galway (A)

Armagh (H)

Mayo (H)

Monaghan (A)

Kerry (A)

Donegal (H)

jesuisros

Is "Stolen Sheep" gone again?

rn

Nope. Online

blowitupref

New faces on the Roscommon panel, a lot of them are from the U20 team the reached the 2021 All Ireland final.

Colm Lavin (Éire Óg)

David Murray (Padraig Pearses)

Conor Hussey (Michael Glaveys)

Dylan Gaughan (Tulsk)

Patrick Gavin (Clann na nGael)

Brian Stack (St. Brigids)

Cian Glennon (St. Faithleachs)

Niall Daly (Padraig Pearses)

Keith Doyle (St. Dominics) (Capt)

Ciaran Lennon (Clann na nGael)

Diarmuid Murtagh (St. Faithleachs)

Dylan Ruane (Michael Glaveys)

Ben O’Carroll (St. Brigids)

Conor Cox (Éire Óg)

Paul Carey (Padraig Pearses)

Subs

Conor Carroll (Oranmore/Maree)

Tomás Crean (Creggs)

Eoin McCormack (St. Dominics)

Robbie Dolan (St. Brigids)

Connell Kennelly (St. Faithleachs)

Aengus Lyons (Fuerty)

Darragh Walsh (Oran)

Ciaran Sugrue (St. Brigids)

Darragh Heneghan (Michael Glaveys)

Adam McDermott (Castlerea St. Kevins)

Ruaidhrí Fallon (St. Brigids)

theoneeyedman

Jesus lads, very quiet tonight. Not much excitement after a good league win.

Good overall performance. Looked dodgy early in the second half when Tyrone got a run on is and they left one great goal chance behind, but we recovered well and lots of the new lads showed well. Stood up well, forwards O Carroll and Cregg were very good, goalie had a good game and is an addition, the likes of Ciaran and especially Enda contributed well when introduced, but Niall Daly was truly outstanding I thought.

A great start to the league, another big test next week though.

megadodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120175376#Comment_120175376

You covered pretty much everything there.

Really important win both from the points earned and psychologically. That regular Roscommon thing of playing with far too much respect for their more illustrious opposition just has to be gotten rid of. The way Roscommon responded to the early 2nd half setback was fantastic. They simply played to win! They looked like they just didn't want to be denied. That's a proper winning mentality and with it great things can be achieved.

C'mon the Rossies !!!

gucci

Great start to the campaign, hopefully can turn in another strong showing next week.

rn

Galway won't be as bad as Tyrone. Amazing to think that team won an all-Ireland 2 years ago. The way they stood off us in last 10+6 mins, not like Tyrone we've battled before. Not to take away from our result. It was a very good performance, a perfect start to the league, the Davy Burke era and great introduction of new talent.

megadodge

Good win in the end, when it looked like Roscommon might fall short despite all the possession they had.

Roscommon were by some way the better team - out the field - but in the first half a number of very poor shot selections and poor execution of final handpasses in the scoring zone meant they were down by two rather than up by a few at half-time.

For once there was no wind in Pearse Stadium and Roscommon completely dominated the second half, but until Ben O'Carroll and Ciarain Murtagh got involved they were struggling to convert their dominance onto the scoreboard. Those two were key to the success, both in constantly showing and getting on the ball and their finishing.

As a unit Roscommon defended very well. Galway never looked even remotely close to creating a goal chance and had to rely on a number of very soft frees in the first half to get their points. The defending without fouling and constant communication is very evident and long may it continue.

The kickouts in the first half were a bit of a problem. Galway really pushed up on our full-back line and forced Carroll to go long. We didn't win too many in the first half. Things improved the longer the game went and it appears that Roscommon are quite fit, as they've finished their two games full of running.

Finally, and I don't like being negative on a personal level, but I honestly think the whole Cox experiment has run its course. I have thought this for quite some time. He's simply not good enough and today showed that up again. We're not lacking quality forwards and I honestly don't see what he adds to the team; in fact he slows up the play and isn't knacky enough in one-on-one situations.

megadodge

Very good win today, especially after a rather underwhelming first half where Armagh looked much the better team despite playing against a good wind.

Roscommon looked very unimaginative in possession and (like the first half v Galway) the same malaise of silly shot selection in the first half, simply because we had the wind, didn't really inspire. The heretofore impressive defense didn't look hectic in the first half either, with Armagh getting through rather easily on more than one occasion.

Roscommon came out a very different team in the second half, moving the ball much quicker and using some lovely kick passing to lads on the run. Once again Ben O'Carroll's willingness to show and win the ball gave options that weren't there in the first half - though Armagh defended much deeper then. I thought Keith Doyle really came into it in the second half, contesting the kickouts much better and Enda started making dangerous attacks, but I thought Brian Stack was outstanding. Constantly involved and always using the ball intelligently. The defending improved dramatically also although there were two or three last gasp blocks which, if scored, could have really messed up Roscommon's chances.

Anyway, it looks like Division 1 status is secure, but even more importantly, there is momentum being built and a winning mentality too, which is wonderful to see.

rn

With everyone beating everyone else, we need one point from remaining 8 on offer to be safe. Relegation is going to be like quick sand this year, anyone less that 7 can be dragged in and it'll go to the last day as everyone else apart from us is still looking for consistent results.

Still mighty to he on top.

Are monaghan coming good all of a sudden or are donegal that bad. Well know more this time next week.

At the moment looks like kerry and donegal for the drop, with ourselves and mayo setting the pace.

megadodge

Kerry will probably end up doing what they've done many times before and win two crucial games just to keep them up.

theoneeyedman

Tough day at the office today.

We weren't that bad over all, but Monaghan were a little better in several areas. As before, shot selection and execution in the first half was poor, and one team you don't want to be trailing to is Monaghan. We created a few goal chances in the second half but came up short of the goal we needed all along.

We looked leggy in places, Doyle and Enda struggled as did Cregg when he came on. We found it harder to get space up front and imho didn't get a fair shake from the officials either.

Kot a disaster, we competed all through, hopefully some lessons learned. Whole division very tight.

MacDanger

Well neighbours, what would the general feeling towards Mcstsy after his time with ye?

Looking at it from the outside, I'd have said he did alright, one or two games left behind but decent overall

rn

He is regarded as quiet polarised. I think many of us felt he failed to get Roscommon best 15 on the field as a few fell out with him. His first year, joint with Fergal was roller coaster. Remember we lost to monaghan in kiltoom and then went on a spree of impressive wins. But it was all undone against kerry in a league semi final that the panel never recovered from and we went out of championship after being hammered by Galway in castlebar and then defeat to padge Collins managed clare, who were looking for a scalp. Another championship low for Roscommon after the collapse to Fermanagh the year before under John Evans.

A scatter of better players left the panel after that. So did Fergal. In fairness to mcstay he steadied ship, had a horrendous league, relegated. Many wanted him gone at this stage. But players wanted him and board backed him. But then shocked Galway in pearse stadium with a stunning performance of attacking football. We'd best croke park championship performance against the old enemy Mayo then, only to get hammered by Mayo following week. So a bad taste left after our best summer in years.

His final year saw another division 2 title IIRC, a very decent connacht championship performance combined with Roscommon first qualifier win after a connacht final loss v armagh in armagh in arguably game of the season. But then we had another championship collapse in first year of super 8s. In fairness we were in a desperately unlucky group with Dublin, Donegal (who were still very good then) and a coming Tyrone. The other group was more our level with Galway, meath and Kildare, with kerry the stand out team.

His fans will laud his teams played lovely attacking football. When we were good, we were great. He developed many of the good u20/21 Roscommon players into senior team regulars. He was unlucky with super 8 group we ended up in. He was starting from a bad place after the dream team management failed - Fergal oD is a God in roscommon football.

His critic's will say he failed to get our best 15 with him. There was a real excitement about Roscommon around that time, if we could gel the best of the Evans team with the fantastic u21 teams that were just coming on the scene.

He never got our defence sorted. The team were lovely footballers and showed moments of brilliance. But ultimately not consistently good enough to be genuine top 4 team. Too many times we weren't even competitive.

His best work has been at club level. He brought an ordinary enough Roscommon Gael team through a Roscommon club championship in 2004. He brought Brigids to promised land with all Ireland glory, where he really got the full clubs resources and players going in right direction.

He's a good manager. If he's a bit of luck at all, he'll land Mayo that elusive all Ireland.

windy shepard henderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120310659#Comment_120310659

i imagine the constant drop off in games late on must be a worry for mayo fans , even the Tyrone game was almost in the balance until the Ryan o Donahue goal at the end

megadodge

Don't know what to make of that game yesterday.

Both teams seemed to be playing a phoney war for various parts of the game. Roscommon were terrible for the first 20 minutes and gradually improved. Mayo did what they had to do without facing much resistence early on. They got very sloppy in the second half when under a little pressure and very nearly let Roscommon win a game that would not have been deserved.

Lavin definitely played himself off the championship team with a very poor display. His kickouts were as SLOW as ever. He never backed himself to pick out some obviously free men and then had to go long, often kicking the ball towards more Mayo players than Roscommon. Between his poor kicking and the stupid goal I reckon Roscommon coughed up 1-5 that was totally preventable. Not the sort of stuff you can afford to do to beat a top team.

Having said that, the fact that Roscommon kept going and nearly pulled it out at the end is a very positive thing. It's something they were not renowned for, but this league they have finished all their games well. They just need to sort out the lethargic first halves.

megadodge

Something needs to be done about the slow starts.

Every game has followed a similar pattern where Roscommon start very sluggishly for at least 15 minutes. They then improve and play pretty well for the remainder of the game, but run out of time (in the losing games). I feel Roscommon can compete with anybody if they just play for the entire match.

Upon looking at the replay I think Roscommon could have had a penalty on that last play. Watch Kerry's no. 8 as McKeon picks the ball. He sticks his arse back and McKeon gets upended. I'd love to have seen another angle.

Hopefully Donegal are as poor as they were today, as Roscommon need at least one point to be sure of survival.

rn

It 99.999% certain we'll stay up after today's results.

There's three games that decide that next weekend. Donegal v us. Monaghan v mayo and Tyrone v Armagh.

Donegal are gone immediately today, they can only catch armagh in 6th spot but lose out on H2H. So their goose is cooked.

Monaghan must beat Mayo to stay in the race. They have a - 16 scoring difference. So they either beat Mayo well, hope donegal beat us well or some combination that makes up 18 points.

So assuming donegal beat us and Monaghan win. In the other game, winner take all. Armagh win, lowest scoring difference between Tyrone, Roscommon and Monaghan (17 points behind). Goes down. Armagh draw, lowest scoring difference of roscommon, Armagh and Monaghan gone. Likely monaghan again. Tyrone win. Armagh gone.

So three results would not only have to go against us, we have to get destroyed by Donegal to be relegated. And Donegal are still gone anyway.

I see every reason we'll play like we did in last 6 games and beat Donegal