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You are > Home > Roscommon’s limitations exposed
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Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Roscommon’s limitations exposed
Mayo 1-22 Roscommon 1-8
Disappointing, but yet very much according to the script. The reigning All-Ireland champions proved a class above Roscommon in Saturday’s U-21 Connacht final at sun-drenched McHale Park.
Firstly the positives. It was one of the youngest Roscommon teams ever to line out in an U-21 championship.
The spine of the team was made up of members of last year’s All-Ireland winning minor side. While a number of those minor players fared well, that doesn’t change the result, or the overall performance for that matter. Roscommon expects to have a strong U21 team in 2008 and 2009. However, it’s time to deal with 2007 first.
Roscommon did mount some resistance to Mayo midway through the first half. That’s where the positives end.
The negatives are endless. This was yet another poor display from a Roscommon football team. The writing was on the wall after the team defeated an out of sorts Sligo team a week earlier.
A star-studded Mayo side was waiting in the wings after disposing of Galway.
Where was the gameplan to cope with Mayo? John Collins replaced Aidan Dooney on the starting 15.
Despite the alarm bells being rung loudly about the team’s midfield, this wasn’t addressed. Richard Dooner is not a midfielder, and neither is David Hoey. Against quality midfielders in Barry Moran and Tom Parsons, Roscommon were exposed, and early in the game at that.
But while the likes of Niall Grehan among others looked on, no changes were made. Instead, frustrated supporters looked on as Mayo breezed through for score after score. Pat Holmes’ side controlled the game for long periods without ever having to move into top gear.
Granted that Mayo are a top side (they have no less than nine of last year’s team), but teams always look better than they are when playing against opposition who obviously had little or no plan. Teams with a suspect midfield tend to use short kickouts. Roscommon didn’t.
Beaten at midfield all afternoon, James McDermott was only brought in with five minutes remaining.
The subs that weren’t brought on must be wondering what they were doing on the panel at all. If a team are beaten in practically all of the key positions from a very early stage and they don’t use up their five subs, then when do you use them? From the opening whistle, Mayo looked sharp. Within seven minutes they had built up a 0-4 to 0-1 lead.
Roscommon’s score came from Conor Devaney, the Kilbride man slotting over after a neat turn. Pierce Hanley was running riot for Mayo at this stage. Eventually David Flynn came off the bench to mark the Ballaghaderreen player, replacing the luckless Michael Killilea.
In the eighth minute Tom Parsons exchanged passes with Adrian McManamon and literally waltzed through the Roscommon defence before blasting high to the net. Moments later John Collins couldn’t get on the end of a Conor Devaney delivery.
The slightest of flicks could have resulted in a goal but the Elphin clubman gathered the break and pointed to leave five points between the sides.
With Mayo constantly creating overlaps, the Roscommon defence were being seriously stretched. By the 17th minute, Mayo had extended their lead to eight points. By the 22nd minute, the difference was nine points with Barry Moran and Aidan Campbell adding to Mayo’s tally. Roscommon’s response came from a Conor Devaney free. Supporters were beginning to fear the worst. It looked like it was going to be a long journey home from Castlebar.
But suddenly Roscommon picked up the tempo. Cathal Cregg’s switch to centre-forward saw the Western Gaels clubman come more into the game. The forwards had been surviving on crumbs up to this point.
After a fine run, David O’Gara found the target before David Keenan, Enda Kenny and Conor Devaney combined, with Cathal Cregg arriving late to crash the ball to the net from close range. A minute later Conor Devaney fired over his second point from play to cut Mayo’s lead to four before Andy Hanley’s debatable points (it looked wide) left five between the sides at the half-time interval.
All was not lost. After a dismal opening 20 minutes, Roscommon were in with a shout although one feared that Mayo would find a second wind and kick on again.
Indeed Mayo did find a second wind. They moved up a gear from the beginning of the second half.
Although Roscommon kicked two points through David Hoey and Conor Devaney in the opening three minutes of the half, Roscommon simply couldn’t live with Mayo in the final 20 minutes. During that spell the home side outscored Roscommon by 0-11 to 0-1.
They fired over points from all angles. Their movement was swift. So was their support play. They had the match wrapped up by the three-quarter stage. Although a decent goal chance fell to Enda Kenny midway through the half, Roscommon were simply never going to get back into this game.
The Roscommon defence could do little to stem the tide. The forwards were once again living off scraps while at midfield Roscommon simply weren’t contesting possession with enough venom.
Supporters (of which the poor crowd of approximately 1500 was made up mainly of Roscommon fans) knew the cause was now a lost one. People were beginning to cast their minds forward to Tullamore on Sunday.
The journey home was a long one. For those who believed that Roscommon had a ‘serious’ U-21 team this year, the myth had been smashed for good.
Roscommon have the potential to be serious contenders in the future, but they were never going to be contenders this year. They were too young, they weren’t strong enough physically and they had no game plan with a management team that certainly have done their credentials little to suggest that they should be in charge of this team again next year.
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