Roscommon GAA Discussion Thread

You can put your mind at ease. Two North Roscommon men. John Moffatt St Micheals man and Pat King a Kilmore club man. Little or no people call MacHale Park the "Hastings Insurance machale park" and will be the same for Hyde Park regardless of it's new name.

Good win in the end today.

The first half was a case of a much stronger wind than it looked. Down kicked at least 5 very good 2-pointers and Roscommon never even looked like trying one, but in the second half Down kicked none either while Roscommon knocked over a few.

Offensively, Roscommon looked dangerous, but in the first half in particular, they ended up losing the ball cheaply in good positions, but that improved dramatically in the second half, especially when they moved the ball quickly. Defensively, I'm not convinced. I thought there were some scores given away too easily, but, in fairness, it improved in the second half.

Unsurprisingly, once Ciarain Murtagh came on he made a huge difference. He really is Roscommon's 'quarterback'. He simply makes good things happen. Reads a game superbly, always finds a man up front and of course can finish superbly. His goal was sensational.

Delighted to see Ben O'Carroll back on the scene. He looked very sharp and a combination of himself, Darragh Cregg and whoever up front, means you have two guaranteed outlets for long ball into the forwards. These two lads are they type of players that will really benefit from the 'three up' rule as they are ALWAYS looking for the ball. Diarmuid will also benefit, as he doesn't have to track back anymore, never a strong point in his game, and he can feed off ball won by the others.

Enda had a frustrating type of game. His goal was the sort of goal only he can get, but he lost the ball very cheaply on at least 3-4 occasions. He was unlucky with the shot off the crossbar and the penalty wasn't his best ever, but be still looks like he needs 5 minutes to recover from his surging runs.

Cian McKeown is a superb player, but he had a mixed game today. He was very involved but for a player normally very strong on the ball today he surprisingly lost the ball easily 3 or 4 times. It was very unusual for him, but I'll put it down to a bit of rustiness. He'll get better.

Delighted to see young Neary make his senior debut. I think he's a brilliant prospect. Kind of like Stackie, he's more than the sum of his parts. Very comfortable on the ball and has a great drive and attitude about him. Hopefully he can stay injury-free after a frustrating few years. Even though he wore no. 2 today, he was up the field a lot, which is where I'd like to see him.

Roscommon did very well on all kickouts. Eddie was very busy and combative and although he was taken off, I thought when Keith Doyle was there, Roscommon tended to do well on kickouts, as he is very competitive in the air. Roscommon also did very well on the breaking ball, which historically is not a Roscommon strong point.

It's important to get a good start in order to get back to Division One and that's what it was.

Important win today. That should ensure a very strong chance of going back up.

Even though the first half was a bit sloppy, I always felt Roscommon were the better team. The two soft goals really kept Monaghan a lot closer than they deserved to be.

Roscommon completely dominated the kickouts, where Keith Doyle was superb and this gave them the constant platform to attack, which they did relentlessly. Diarmuid and Conor Hand were very impressive. Hand showed outstanding speed on the ball and a welcome willingness to take on his direct opponent. His actual running lines from deep were also very impressive.

I was glad to see John McManus back in the fold, as he is a very good man-marker and adds much-needed physicality to the full-back line. The new rules mean there will be more one-on-one battles back there and that's what he's good at.

Cian McKeown and Ultan Harney certainly didn't lack in effort, but they are both still a little short of their normal high level. Hopefully they will keep improving.

One surprisingly impressive factor is the disciplined pressing by the forward line. Throughout the game they make life very difficult on the opposition without resorting to 'forwards tackling' ie. fouls. Long may it continue.

I thought Ultan put in a good shift, particularly on breaking ball. Unheralded but important stuff, not eye catching maybe but crucial in this new game. It's an area we've done ok on so far.

Great win for Roscommon CBS today. They beat Patrician College Carrickmacross by 4 points in the All-Ireland Colleges 'B' final.

They really were the better team throughout and a purple patch before half-time saw them take a 6 point lead that they never really looked like relinquishing. Some very impressive players on this team and they looked very well-coached and disciplined.

I was at the final these two teams played back in 1997, which was held in Croke Park, and while it's great for a kid to play in Croker I still think the smaller, closer venue like Pearse Park in Longford actually makes for a better occasion. Of course, the weather cooperating also made it a perfect day out.

Need to bring on Salah(pen) for the last 10,no one else looks like scoring hwre

Well that was a head-scratcher today.

Complete Jekyl & Hyde performance from Roscommon.

They looked like they were going to score every time they got the ball in the first half. They were lording midfield and other than the goal the defence looked reasonably solid. Westmeath looked completely devoid of ideas and Roscommon led by 12 points at one point in the first half (without any 2 pointers - I think).

In the last 20 minutes they played like an inexperienced, nervous bunch of kids. Mistake after mistake after mistake. Fair play to Westmeath, once they were presented with the opportunity they went for it and got a very unexpected result. But from Roscommon's point of view it leaves a lot of question marks.

There's no doubt that our best midfield is Eddie Nolan & Keith Doyle, but Carroll needs to target them a little more accurately than he was doing today. His kickouts have been underpar this year, but with the addition of Enda and even Cunnane, Roscommon are strong in the air, so he needs to give them every chance.

It seems John McManus is out for c. six weeks with a hand injury. With Stack also out that's two very good central defenders out and could hurt us. I thought Rory Fallon did well today, but as I said last week, we need Stack both as a defender and leader.

Diarmuid had a nightmare and should have been taken off earlier. However, puttig Cox on for him was just wrong! I don't care if I'm repeating myself, I have to becuase the guy simply isn't up to the standard. His loss of the ball at the end of the match which ended up being a two-pointer for Westmeath was so predictable. He loses the ball far too easily. He's a decent free-taker and that's literally it!!

Cregg had to be taken off injured, so I hope he's ok.

I really don't know what Roscommon will show up next weekend, but the inconsistency at this stage is worrying.

Nolan and Doyle are very good in the air but allowing Ray Connellan score 7 points is poor by them.
Carrolls kick outs have been poor this year. They were dire against Cavan and he probably should have been substituted.

A terrible result yesterday in a game we taught we had to win. Management need a kick up the hole with some of the team selections and subs.

Kickouts are difficult in this new game. The target areas are a lot smaller than before and ball is in the air a lot longer, so the opponent facing you has a slight advantage. Conor has to adapt, but it is also a whole team issue:Conor has to be able to hit his targets sure, but the targets have to be freed up through movement and set plays.. It's not just a thing that Conor's Kickouts are bad, we have to adapt to the new world as a team and fast.

Pure rubbish tonight, we seem to fall away at the end of every match, why does the sight of Andy moran always make our players **** their togs,

Very poor performance by Roscommon.

Just disappointing all round. Too many players didn't play to their ability and defensively, I thought we were very naive and gave way far too many 'easy' scores.

And not starting our best fielder in a game that now involves loads of long kickouts that have to be contested in the air was just mind-boggling. It simply made no sense. The whole thing of constantly changing the starting team right through the league means you don't have a settled lineup used to playing to certain patterns. I don't understand it.

Having said that, I did think Galway were impressive. I know it can be said Roscommon made them look good, which is not entirely untrue, but the Galway players looked to be taking on responsibility, which they tend not to do when Shane Walsh and Comer are on the field. The certainly are contenders for the All-Ireland.

It was strange not to start Doyle alright who is out best Fielder given the players Galway have around the middle but he is extremely limited apart from from Fielding. He didn't improve us in that area when he came in either.

Kickouts have been an issue all year from Carroll, They were dreadful again Sunday. I understand lack of movement and options but its the ones hes kicking straight to Opposition unmarked and misplacing to areas we have no players that is unforgivable when its happening so often.

My main concern with our manager is nearly all our players playing below their capabilities all year to be honest. Nearly everyone is underperforming massively.