Michael Finneran reviews Pádraig Pearses' and Elphin's semi final wins while giving his thoughts on the latter's chances in the Connacht Intermediate final.

Former Roscommon footballer believes Roscommon will produce a "titanic effort" this weekend

Despite a 12-point defeat against Dublin, there were encouraging signs that Roscommon were beginning to rediscover some form.

Croker this evening. Lots of talk from people saying we should be targeting the Mayo and Cavan games. No. I’m not having that. We have to head to Dublin and go all out to win. The die has been cast. The fixtures lie as they do.

Why in the name of all that’s good and holy are we still deciding games with a penalty shootout? It’s just wrong. The shootout feels totally alien to the game that has preceded it, which is all about team ethic, hard work, cohesion and togetherness.

So, a colleague of my wife asked her last week, ‘What’s he going to write about EVERY week?’. As in, how does he expect to fill a column each week? The truth is, I don’t have a Scooby-doo. Yet it doesn’t worry me.