Boyle best placed to challenge St. Brigid’s

Can the southern stranglehold on the Fahey Cup be broken? Is there a northern rebellion brewing? Can a “bolter” emerge from the pack?

These questions, and more, are set to be answered over the coming months as the 2006 Roscommon Senior Football Championship Express leaves the station next weekend.

Since 2009, only St. Brigid’s, Clann na nGael and Pádraig Pearses have claimed club football’s biggest prize. The exception was in 2023 when Strokestown grasped their opportunity in a novel final against Boyle.

Once again. St. Brigid’s will be the warmest of favourites to win the club’s 20th crown, which would leave them just one behind their great rivals Clann na nGael.

On paper at least, they’re the standout team. What we don’t know is how they have recovered from falling short in an All-Ireland club final once again, when the expectation was that a second Andy Merrigan Cup was within reach last January.

Outside of Conor Carroll, no St. Brigid’s player subsequently saw sustained game time in Roscommon colours, which adds to the uncertainty around the county champions. In other words, we’re not sure if players like Ruaidhrí Fallon, Conor Hand and Shane Cunnane can kick on from the form that brought the Kiltoom-based side towards the cusp of national glory earlier in the year.

And, let’s be honest, we’re probably not going to find out for a few weeks yet, given that, once again, the county champions have received a favourable draw in the group stages.

Michael Glaveys in Kiltoom next Friday evening, given that the Ballinlough-based club shocked them in the group stages last season, should focus the minds, but Group A is one that Damien Mulligan’s side should negotiate with their eyes closed.

The same cannot be said for last year’s beaten finalists, Pádraig Pearses, Boyle and Clann na nGael, who must raise a gallop straight away to avoid being dragged into a relegation play-off.

Boyle, now under Fergal O’Donnell, are the team with most to prove. If they could have replayed the last ten minutes against Pearses in last year’s quarter-final, they would have done things differently. And until they get over the line and win the club’s first senior title since 1927, doubts will persist about their mentality on the days that matter.

But if there’s one manager that can get a tune out of them, it’s O’Donnell. Winning a second O’Rourke Cup in the club’s history and denying St. Brigid's a hat-trick of league titles represented a good start, but the caveat is that county players were, in the main, missing, even in the final when the number of big names absent from both sides was a major talking point afterwards.

Pearses know that they were so close to having Brigid’s number in last year’s drawn county final, and while Caelim Keogh, Ronan Daly and Paul Carey enjoyed solid seasons with Roscommon, it’s the absence of Conor Ryan around the middle third, not to mention the dynamic Seán Canning in attack, that has the potential to hurt them.

Throw in the uncertainty around the availability of some of their more experienced players, and it’s easy to make the argument that they’ll struggle to reach the heights that pushed St. Brigid’s all the way during two pulsating games last October and early November.

Then, there’s Clann na nGael. Under new manager Declan O’Flaherty, they’ll be ultra-competitive and feel they can beat anybody in a “once-off” game. But three big games in the group stages will tell us more.

Outside of Brigid’s, Pearses, Clann and Boyle, it’s hard to see where a genuine contender will emerge from. On paper, Roscommon Gaels have potential, but getting their best 15 on the pitch will be the main challenge for Decie Hoare.

So, in short, once again it looks like St. Brigid’s Fahey Cup to lose. Pearses’ successes this decade means that you can never write them off if they start to build momentum.

That leaves Boyle — the championship’s sleeping giant that, based on form, look best-placed to challenge the champions.

Outside of that circle, it’s hard to see any other potential storyline making the headlines.