Egan hails work ethic as key to success
Roscommon intermediate ladies' football manager, Finbar Egan, was satisfied with many aspects of his side's performance against Down.
An understandable giddiness was prevalent among the Roscommon squad as they came to terms with a huge result that, they hope, will represent a seismic shift in the fortunes of their season.
Finbar Egan has always harped on about the importance of work ethic as the key ingredient to any positive result, and the Roscommon manager saw it in spades as his side shocked Down to reach the All-Ireland quarter-finals where they will play Clare, Westmeath or Leitrim.
“The girls finally got what they deserved. They’ve put in an awful lot of hard work. Leitrim in Carrick (Connacht final) was a disaster, but we went up to Cavan and played well. Maybe we lacked a bit of belief, but we showed today that we have worked exceptionally hard.
“The result in Carrick was such a surprise to us because we had been working hard, and we’ve worked hard since. We had 19 girls involved today and every one of them played their part. They didn’t weaken the team. We don’t know who we’ll get in a quarter-final, but we’ve a few more girls to come back too,” he explained.
Laura Mannion’s inclusion was a surprise to those outside the camp, but Egan revealed that he wanted more experience around the place, and praised the other girls on the panel for facilitating the St. Ciaran’s player’s return.
“I felt that we needed a female equivalent of John Heslin, and Laura answered the call. She was carrying a knock but she played through it. Fair play to the other girls, it wasn’t easy for them to see someone come back in and start. But they rowed in behind the decision.”
Results so far this year have been far from ideal, but the Roscommon manager went on to praise his players’ resilience for sticking to the process.
“When you’re coming from the far side of Dublin to Roscommon, and you’re getting the results that we’ve been getting, it’s tough. But I hope the girls see that it has been worth it.
“We’ve got to knuckle down now and give a good account of ourselves in the quarter-final. We just needed to get the monkey off our back. I really believe that this team are capable of an awful lot more.
“Down looked like world beaters against Cavan but, like ourselves in Carrick-on-Shannon, they weren’t as bad as the scoreline suggested. Games just go like that when a team get a run on you.
“I really think that any team can beat anyone. Cavan are gone, and they were promoted from Division Two to One, and were Ulster champions. Ourselves and Down stayed in Division Three. It’s just on the day, and today was our day. But it was our day because of the workrate we showed. We didn’t take every shot we got, but we worked extremely hard.”
On a sobering weekend for Roscommon, Egan was just glad that the flagship ladies’ football team could put a smile back on people’s faces.
“The county was doing so well only a few weeks ago. We’ve still got the minor and U-16 girls in an All-Ireland semi-finals, and the camogie team are going well.
“The lads put in a savage effort, but sometimes games go like the way they did in Clones. They’re still a super team, and they’ll be back next year.
“It’s the same here, although if we lost today, everyone would be saying that we’re rubbish after going into a relegation play-off two years in a row. But we’re in a quarter-final now. The aim now is to win that, and make a semi-final,” he concluded.
