Egan hoping that 'moral victory' against Cavan can ignite Roscommon's season

Given the way Roscommon’s last competitive game turned out — humiliation against Leitrim in the Connacht final — Finbar Egan couldn’t have been prouder of his side’s response on Sunday afternoon.

While moral victories are, essentially, a useless currency, Roscommon will use Sunday’s three-point defeat against Cavan as a starting point in the hope that their disappointing season will now take flight.

“It’s a tough one to swallow. We didn’t show up against Leitrim in the Connacht final. But this is a really good team. They’re working exceptionally hard. We played a couple of matches since, and we did really well in them,” was Egan’s initial thoughts when asked about his side’s gutsy performance.

“We worked hard today, like I knew the girls were capable of. We feel that we’re unlucky not to get the reward we deserved. But, unfortunately, that has been the story of our year. Still, I thought that there were some absolutely super performances out there,” he continued.

Egan admitted that the nature of the defeat against Leitrim stung the panel, but their response to adversity has been heartening.

“A lot of the girls were hurt by what happened against Leitrim. But they’ve showed their character since. It wasn’t anything that Finbar Egan did — the girls came together as a group and worked exceptionally hard.

“You saw that today, the way they worked for each other. But things went against us. They got five frees early on, and four of them were scored. I didn’t even think they were fouls.

“We missed our first three or four shots, but the girls turned it around. Caoimhe Lennon and Aisling Feely kicked some super scores. I just thought there was a tremendous workrate all over the pitch.” 

Cavan were on a roll coming into Sunday’s match but, arguably, Roscommon produced their best display of the season — an assessment Egan concurred with.

“They went up from Division Two to One, they’ve just won the Ulster championship — they’re a super team. We gave them a seven-point headstart, and then we decided to play.

“We gave them a foothold in the game but we responded. I’m just disappointed for the girls because they’ve put in the work. We have another day, but we have to deliver the next day (against Louth).

“We’ve a lot of girls with little football under their belt. Kate Nolan, Caoimhe Lennon and Róise Lennon went off against Down in the league. Megan McKeon was injured. We didn’t have Ella Thompson or Aisling Feely. We’ve lost Mia Macken since then but the girls coming in have stepped up.

“It’s the girls that are driving this. They’re over there now looking to do extra runs. I have to hold some of them back because they’ve just played a full game. They want to push on,” he concluded.

The proof will be in the pudding in a “must win” game against Louth on Sunday week.