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You are > Home > Real banana skin looms
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Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Real banana skin looms
Roscommon senior footballers begin their Connacht championship campaign against London in Ruislip on Sunday next.
There was a time when a game against London would be a stroll in the park, but not any longer.
This game could be a real banana skin for Roscommon.
I met the London manager Noel Dunning on a few occasions during the year and he is quietly confident of causing an upset.
The last time the two teams met in the championship Roscommon were lucky to win by a single point.
London first entered the Connacht championship in 1975. Mayo defeated the Exiles by 4-12 to 1-12 in McHale Park, Castlebar.
Roscommon met them the following year in Hyde Park and won by 2-18 to 1-7. In 1977 London caused a sensation by beating Leitrim in Carrick-on-Shannon by 0-9 to 0-6.
The biggest defeat London suffered was at the hands of Roscommon in 1980 when the home team won by a massive 9-19 to 110. That was the last year that London had to travel to a Connacht venue.
Roscommon’s first game against London in Ruislip was in 1985 when they won by 1-15 to 0-10. Five years later in 1990, Roscommon won by 5-16 to 1-5. In 1995 the gap had narrowed somewhat, but Roscommon still had a convincing win by 019 to 1-7. In 2000 the score was Roscommon 4-18, London 0-10.
For the record, that Roscommon team of ten years ago was: Derek Thompson, Denis Gavin, John Whyte, Brendan Burke, Michael Ryan, Clifford McDonald, Damien Donlon, John Gillooly, Donal Casserly, Nigel Dineen, Francie Grehan, Eddie Lohan, Alan Nolan, Gerry Lohan, Frankie Dolan. The scorers were Frankie Dolan (2-2), Gerry Lohan (2-1), Eddie Lohan (0-5), Alan Nolan (0-4), Nigel Dineen (0-3), Francie Grehan (0-2), Donal Casserly (01).
Roscommon’s next opponents in the semi-final were Leitrim who caused the shock of the championship by winning by 1-13 to 3-6.
Roscommon had led by 3-4 to 0-8 at half-time but a dreadful second-half display allowed Leitrim back into the game. Could history repeat itself in 2010?
I have been following Roscommon teams since people in the county were driving DI registered cars. The Kennedys of Castleross was on the radio each day and we didn’t yet have a national television station.
Petrol was about 28 pence a gallon and you could buy a car for a few hundred. Each year we started out with high hopes and dreams of at least doing well in Connacht.
More often than not our hopes were dashed. On a few occasions we were pleasantly surprised, like in 2001 when Roscommon defied the odds and beat
Galway by 2-12 to 0-14 in Tuam. Roscommon went on to record a dramatic victory over Mayo in the final in Hyde Park when Gerry Lohan’s injury-time goal saw them beat a fancied opposition by 2-10 to 1-12.
I am afraid things have gone down hill since then. The recent defeat of the junior team at the hands of Galway suggests that all is not well on the club scene in the county.
Roscommon were allowed to pick from senior clubs in the county, while Galway had to select from intermediate and junior teams. The gap in standards in both counties was amplified in that game.
The fact is that club football in the county is in a very poor state. We have got to the stage where Roscommon is other counties’ dream draw in the Connacht championship and the qualifiers. That is a big comedown from the great days of the 1970s and 1980.
It is no use dwelling on the past. We must look to the future. Any revival in our fortunes in the county scene will have to start with the clubs.
That is probably easier said than done, but unless there is a high standard of club football it will be very hard to select a county team that will do justice to the jersey.
The team have prepared well for next Sunday’s game.
Fergal O’Donnell and his selectors have worked hard to ensure that the team will be in good shape for the trip to Ruislip. Victories in New York and London can no longer be taken for granted.
Galway got a real scare in New York this year. In fact the Exiles were very unlucky to lose.
The sizzling heat and the small pitch didn’t help Galway. Roscommon should be fore warned. The climate in London will be similar to our own and the Ruislip pitch is bigger than Gaelic Park, but nothing can be taken for granted.
London should have won in 2005. I cannot remember expectations as low at the start of the championship as they are this year.
One thing is certain, the burden of expectation will not put pressure on the players this year. At least that is a good thing.
Roscommon cannot afford to be complacent.
They will have to take the game to London from the start. Neither team set the world on fire in the league. Roscommon won only one game in Division Three, while London had a similar story in Division Four.
Only Kilkenny had a poorer record in the bottom division.
That doesn’t mean that London should be taken for granted.
The winners of next Sunday’s game play Leitrim in the semi-final. Unless we can beat London comprehensively we haven’t much hope of progressing any further in the provincial championship.
Last Sunday’s Game
As I watched the Offaly v Meath game on television on Sunday I wondered what is happening to our game of football.
It was a most frustrating game to watch. Players on both sides were furious when referee Derek Fahy pulled them up for what looked perfectly legitimate hand passes.
The referee hasn’t the facility of the action replay, but action replays showed that at least six passes that were penalised were in fact proper passes.
Offaly seemed to be victimised more than Meath and the Royals got a few handy points from frees that they should never have been awarded in the first place. In fairness, Meath suffered in the second-half when a few calls went against them.
Players are now reverting to the fisted pass, the very pass they tried to get rid of in Congress.
I wonder are some referees going a bit overboard with their interpretation of this rule? The second game between Antrim and Tyrone was much more enjoyable.
That was due in no small measure to the common sense approach of referee Pat McEnaney. People pay their hard earned money to see a good, free flowing game of football.
Frustration sets in when play is held up every few seconds for frees that should never be awarded in the first place.
Meath looked impressive, especially in the secondhalf. The defence looked porous and the concession of two goals must be a source of worry for the management.
Niall McNamee caused all kinds of problems for the Meath full-back line.
It is interesting that each of the Offaly goals came from the long ball delivered from midfield. Offaly were in the game up to half-time and could possibly have been in a better position if they had a reliable freetaker.
How older Offaly supporters must have yearned for a place kicker of the calibre of the great Tony McTeague.
The dismissal of midfielder John Coughlan after halftime meant that the Faithfuls were fighting an uphill battle. They were struggling in midfield and the long ball was no longer posted to McNamee.
As the game progressed it was only a question of the margin of Meath’s victory. In Cian Ward Meath have a very reliable free taker. He hit some great scores on Sunday.
In Casement Park Tyrone showed that there is life in the old dog yet. Antrim didn’t seem to have the self belief in the first-half. When they threw caution to the wind in the second-half and took the game to Tyrone they did a lot better.
When the Antrim forwards ran at the Tyrone backs there was a hint that some of the Red Hands’ backs might be losing a few steps in pace.
They have a lot of mileage up and the strain is bound to tell sometime. It will be interesting days ahead in the championship.
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