Four Roads must be ‘on point’ for Tooreen challenge

It’s a familiar challenge for Roscommon senior hurling champions, Four Roads, when they face Tooreen at King and Moffatt Dr. Hyde Park at 1.30 p.m. on Sunday.

For the fourth year running, and for the fifth time in the past six Connacht intermediate championships, Four Roads will come up against the Mayo champions.

There will be plenty of familiarity between the sides, but, from a Four Roads perspective, victory has been a stranger to them in this match-up.

They have lost all four games on their current four-in-a-row run, while no Roscommon club has managed to win a Connacht championship game since 2015. On that occasion, Four Roads beat Ballyhaunis with current manager, Micheál Kelly, lining out at centre-back.

No surprise then that Kelly and the Four Roads players are desperate to end his side’s run of losses at provincial level.

“Definitely, there is motivation for the club as a whole to try and get over that line. Ten years for the Roscommon champions to have been beaten by Mayo or whoever, it is a long, long time. We are hoping that we can give a good account of ourselves and be there or thereabouts.

“There is a lot of motivation. Ten years is tough for any club or county, especially when you are trying to make a breakthrough. With Roscommon hurling going so well, we have plenty of motivation,” the Four Roads manager noted.

Despite a six-week gap between the county final and Saturday afternoon’s clash, Kelly believes that the break between competitive games has helped keep the club’s dual players fresh.

“We are blessed in ways. We have a great panel of players this year. With training you can do a good bit of stuff between game-based things and drills.

“But the big thing for me was not overloading them. They have done a lot between playing with St. Aidan’s and Four Roads. We are just counting and banking on not picking up any injuries. We are in a good spot at the moment and we are looking forward to the challenge next weekend.

“When you come out of your county, these are the games you want to have a go at, and have a cut at, so, hopefully, all will go well,” he stated.

One noticeable aspect of the 2-18 to 0-15 county final triumph over Oran was the impact off the bench. With all five subs making their presence felt, Kelly feels that he will need his replacements to raise their levels once more on Saturday if Four Roads are to pull off a shock.

“Our bench got us over the line that day (in the county final). Throughout the year, we have always used our five subs, and they have always made a difference. We need a strong bench to come in. In terms of levels, when you come out of your county, you know you are going up. You have to hit them levels and keep improving.

“We know we have to come up a couple of levels to be on point for the next day. I believe the lads can do it. We have seen it throughout the year.

“We see they are able to come up but it has to be right from the start against Tooreen because they have had exposure to this (level of competition).

“They were very unlucky when they lost the All-Ireland final (in January 2023). They probably should have won it. I’d imagine it’s pretty much the same group of players since then so we have to come up a few levels. But we believe we can,” he concluded.