Decent start procures some momentum ahead of crunch Monaghan contest
TAKE THAT: Dylan Casey is tackled by Paul Carey during Sunday's Division One League game between Kerry and Roscommon at Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney. Picture: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo
Can we just pause for a moment to appreciate how good Gaelic football is right now? In the space of seven days Roscommon supporters have been treated to two fantastic sporting contests.
The club final in Croke Park has been rightly hailed by many to be the best in living memory. Then, on Sunday, last we had another cracker of a game down in Killarney.
Okay, I’m not suggesting it was a game for the ages or anything like that, but it was a seriously enjoyable and high-quality contest.
Take a minute to think back on some of the winter games we’ve watched in the national league over the last few years under the old rules. They were a world removed from what we saw down in the Kingdom at the weekend.
Reports coming in from around the country suggest there were plenty of other exciting games on the opening weekend of the national league. I did a quick comparison between the scorelines in the first round this year and in 2024 (under the old rules). There was an average of ten points more per game scored this year. That’s a serious leap and points to a better spectacle on offer.
Now, down to really important stuff. Where are Roscommon amidst all of this great football? Very well-positioned, I would argue.
The Mark Dowd era got off to a decent start on Sunday in terms of performance. We were unfortunate not to get at least a draw but the strong showing, at least, gives us some positive momentum heading into a very important game against Monaghan this weekend.
Not many supporters who travelled to Killarney on Sunday would have expected us to get a result. Yet we came within a whisker of a deserved point. I see a number of big positives to take from the game.
First off, I thought Mark Dowd’s imprint was clear to see. His teams always have a big work ethic and pride themselves on disciplined tackling. I thought there were a number of moments of great pressure from our forwards as the Kerry backs tried to work their way out. The discipline in the tackle was good, although there’s still plenty of room for improvement in this regard.
I really liked Diarmuid Murtagh’s positioning. He seemed to spend a lot of time out around the arc, particularly in the second half. With a weapon of a left foot like he has, this is a smart move and one from which we’ll hopefully get even more joy as the year progresses.
Daire Cregg’s performance was another big positive. Daire is at the forefront of my mind when it comes to assessing whether Roscommon can push on to really compete at the business end of the championship later in the year.
I’ve said it before: we’re blessed with a large amount of very good players in this county. We need more of them to reach elite level though, where they hit All-Star level displays consistently.
Cregg is one of our players who I think can make that jump. Some of his scores on Sunday were exquisite. In full flow, he’s a joy to watch and, I’d imagine, a nightmare to mark.
Top of his areas to improve though must be his awareness in front of goal. There were a couple of times on Sunday I thought he could have shown more composure and looked to give an extra pass instead of going for goal himself.
They’re small gains, but they’re the inches we need to improve on if we’re to go from being a decent team to a top team.
Another positive was the introduction of Jack Duggan. I thought he showed a nice bit of cut to him in the timing of his runs and took his two points well.
It was Duggan’s debut, along with seven others, I think. That’s a huge number of newcomers in one game. Contrast that with Kerry. When their starting team was announced on Saturday, any hope most Rossie supporters had of an unlikely ambush were seriously dampened. That was a strong Kerry outfit, and it was fair to assume they’d have far too much for the inexperienced Roscommon team.
That it took a very dubious last-second (or after the last second!) score to win it for them says a lot about the level of performance produced by Roscommon. Senan Lambe was another who caught the eye. He got on oceans of ball and showed great incisiveness going forward.
Along with all the debutantes, it was Eoin McCormack’s first game back after missing all of last year. I thought he looked good at corner-back, despite his man scoring 1-9.
But David Clifford’s level of class has forced us to re-evaluate the way we judge defenders — I thought McCormack did very little wrong.
Back when I played, there’d be a run of three consecutive games in March which would make or break your league campaign. Now, it’ll be the first of February and Roscommon are faced with what feels like a must-win game in the context of Division One survival.
I’ve heard quite a few supporters wonder aloud when the Brigid’s lads will rejoin the fold. I haven’t heard anything about them coming back in yet, and I’m glad that’s the case.
Giving them a few weeks off now could be the best for all concerned in my opinion. It gives Mark Dowd a few games to assess the form of the rest of the players on the panel.
For the Brigid’s players, it’s more of a mental issue than a physical one. Intercounty players nowadays are serious athletes who don’t really take weeks off from training — “wintering well” has become a thing of the past.
I'm sure they’ll be back in the gym again at this stage. Just giving them a couple of weeks to switch off will help replenish the motivation levels and Roscommon would gain more from it in the long run.
In an ideal scenario, we’d win these next two games against Monaghan and Armagh. Wouldn’t it be super then for Mark Dowd to be able to gradually reintegrate the Brigid’s players into a side that are going well?
For now, Monaghan in the Hyde on Sunday is the only show in town.
In ladies’ football, the Rossiettes got off to a good start on Sunday by beating Limerick. This should give them confidence, and if they could ever overturn Fermanagh this weekend, it’d be a huge boost.
Fermanagh dumped Roscommon out of the championship last year in Kiltoom. They drew with Laois on Sunday and will be favourites against Roscommon, especially as they are at home.
I wrote previously about how stretched I thought Roscommon might be this year in terms of quality personnel. They may be a bit stretched, but their starting line-up on Sunday was strong, nonetheless.
I was happy to see the repositioning of Rachel Fitzmaurice to number 11. She has played a lot of football in the backs over the last few years, but I think centre-forward is her best position. This could be the key to Roscommon getting better ball into what looks like a potent full-forward line of Aisling Hanly, Roise Lennon and Caoimhe Lennon.
As is the case with the men’s team, next Sunday will paint a clearer picture as to their prospects in the league this year.
