Cunningham satisfied to meet league targets

An 18-point victory in a league decider but, typical of Anthony Cunningham, he wasn’t about to start waxing lyrical about a performance that, deep down, would have pleased him.

Given that St. Brigid’s are the team on a pedestal on the back of last year’s successful run that took them all the way to club football’s great showpiece in January, the former Roscommon manager was content to take the silverware on offer in Kiltoom last weekend and move on.

“We’re no fools. We have to be on top of our game every day we go out. We didn’t win our last two matches (in the league). There are a lot of good teams out there and they’re going to seriously test these guys. Everyone wants to knock a champion. It’s much harder when you’re expected to win. That’s a much tougher place to be.

“The couple of players that Roscommon Gaels were missing through injuries was a big factor. They were very good against us here a few weeks ago. They gave us a bit of a lesson. They’re an up and coming team, and will make it very hard for a lot of teams in the championship,” he predicted.

Overall, however, the league was very useful to Cunningham and his management team. In the absence of household names on duty with their respective county teams, they got to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of a number of different players.

“It’s a very good league in Roscommon. It was well-organised, we had a match every second week. There were no matches postponed, so they were great targets to have.

“We used the league for development. We used a lot of players, some of whom didn’t feature this evening, in several matches. It was great from that point of view. The lads worked hard. We had the county lads back this evening but, overall, it was good to see a lot of different players over the course of the competition,” he assessed.

With the defence of the Fahey Cup just around the corner, Cunningham was keen to highlight that the shark-infested waters of Roscommon club football could be the place where Brigid’s might he caught if they weren’t fully tuned in.

“We’ve still a bank of work to do before the championship begins. We’re getting ready for it, but no doubt Mark Dowd (Roscommon Gaels manager) and other managers will have their teams in proper order as well. There are (county) guys gone back into Pearses and Boyle, so a lot of teams will be coming into form.

“For the last number of years, the Roscommon championship has been very tight. If you look at it, that’s where Brigid’s got their most serious test last year,” he concluded.