Fallon happy to put his clear ambitions on the record

If, like most Roscommon Herald readers, you’ve never attended the official launch of a GAA competition, the scenes are broadly familiar.

Sponsors’ paraphernalia provides the backdrop as players from Kerry, Galway or Dublin talk about how they’re expecting a tough contest from Waterford/Leitrim/Carlow, hungry reporters stock up on tea and sandwiches, and nothing of consequence is said by anyone.

Except when you’re Roscommon defender Ruaidhrí Fallon, that kind of “saying it best when you say nothing at all” doesn’t come naturally.

Maturity beyond his years has always been his calling card, from the first moment he emerged on the adult scene by playing a key role in St. Brigid’s county title win in 2020 as a 17-year-old.

So when the question is asked at last Friday’s 20205 Connacht SFC launch in Bekan about Roscommon’s standing in the All-Ireland race, he embraces the county’s status as live contenders for honours, while at the same time understanding the implications of saying so.

“Yeah, we are,” he replies, after a few moments of consideration.

“Obviously that might not sound great to a few people, but for sure. Internally I would hope up around 100% of the panel are there for that reason alone. We don't mention it a huge amount.

"It's mentioned every now and again as a bit of a reminder to everyone why we're here and why we do what we do during the week. The work we put in at the weekends is for that day. Hopefully, we get to walk up those steps.

“I'd say a lot of teams, not just ourselves, gained a huge amount of confidence from seeing Armagh go on and win the All-Ireland last year,” he said.

Given how competitive Roscommon were in last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final against the eventual winners, despite Fallon picking up a second yellow card just before half-time, it makes sense that they would perceive the gap to be one that can be bridged.

“We obviously didn't look back at the game, the way things finished up. I was watching most of it on the sideline, myself unfortunately, but overall, we would have been disappointed with our performance that day.

“A different day, we wouldn't have been overly surprised if we got over Armagh. Then to see what they went on and did later on in the summer, gives confidence to loads of different counties,” he continued.

Given his background as a physical player in the middle third, capable of using his rugby background to take on bigger opponents, it was something of a surprise to see the St. Brigid’s man spend a lot of time in this year’s league campaign operating as one of Roscommon’s three defenders inside their own half – even if he reverted to the half-back line for Saturday’s league final in Croke Park.

“It's probably a role that I haven't played since underage football,” he says.

“I probably would have played it a few times maybe against a few different teams and some of my team-mates now, maybe Daire Cregg or someone like that. When we were younger I might have been sent back for my sins to try and control him. It's definitely a different change. There hasn't really been a big conversation about the switch. It's been fluid enough.

“Once there's a jersey available in between number 2 and number 15 I'll try my best to do whatever job is needed to be done in that position as well. I think we're lucky enough when it comes to having a lot of players there, kind of hybrid players around the middle eight that can do a variety of different jobs, whether it's defensively or attacking.

“It's borderline lonely (in the defensive roles). There's a lot of green grass in front of you sometimes. You know yourself and I do as well how good the forwards are these days, they're getting better and better as time goes on.

“As the summer goes on it will challenge. It's either sink or swim for players in the full-back line or the full-forward line. Whether you're shooting the lights out or you're doing your damnedest to stop that player from scoring, it's going to be a great watch for spectators,” Fallon explained.

Suddenly, he’s in full flow and the analytical side of his personality shines through.

“Since the rules have changed where it's not a 12 v 11 anymore and the keeper can't come up, the breaks that you have in the full-back line or the full-forward line aren’t half as long as they were before.

“Attacks seem to be maxing between 60 and 90 seconds due to it being 11 v 11. So if teams are slowing things down or taking time off the clock if they don't have a wind or something like that, teams are actually just pushing out on the man-on-man and trying to win the ball back. That forces mistakes as it should,” he continued.

Such has been the transformation, that he has completely changed his physical shape, slimming down considerably from the imposing figure he cut in recent years.

“Since the rules have come in, you need to be a lot fitter. The game is very up and down, when it's turned over it's quite panicky and there's a lot of open space.

“There's a lot of scramble, high sprint distances and stuff like that. I think you'd find throughout a lot of county panels this year there was a lot of lads shedding a few kg, maybe they had built up a lot of muscle over the last few years. Players are going to be that bit leaner and that bit lighter because it's only going to get faster as the summer goes.

“I'd easily enough to add on a few pounds over the winter and stuff like that as well. So I wouldn't be known as one of the leaner players on the panel for sure. I've definitely had to change the body composition a good bit and shed a few kg off for that change in rules,” he outlined.

For a footballer to have such clarity and focus behind every decision is not particularly rare in the modern game. For a conversation with one to be so enlightening and open is much more so.