Glass is half-full ahead of Mayo rematch

Sometimes I find myself wondering do we talk ourselves down too much?

I knew it was coming but I hadn’t even left Croke Park on Saturday evening when a fella said to me, “Sure the Dubs were just toying with us”.

And then another, “They were just playing us in second gear”.

I’ve got to say I just don’t buy into that way of thinking at all. It’s okay to say we played well and caused Dublin problems.

While I knew it was a long shot, I did have a sneaking suspicion that we could cause a massive upset in Croker. It needed a perfect storm of Ros’ hitting by far their best performance of the year and the Dubs taking us a touch for granted. We got part one of it, but I was naïve with my hopes that Dublin might take their eye off the ball.

They are a fantastic team and they take every championship game seriously. Look at their reaction to the Basquel goal. They knew they had been tested and the fist pumps and body language of Fenton, O’Callaghan and company spoke of a team buzzing with finally breaking through the Roscommon resistance.

We showed some really positive signs. We were courageous in our tactical approach. We tried, at times, to put a big squeeze on the Dublin kickout (though our execution on this needs to be better). We pushed players forward, sometimes having four or five players inside the opposition’s 20-metre line when they were defending with 15 behind the ball. We left one forward up front all the time to ensure we had an outlet for counter attacks.

Individually, the inside forwards lit the place up with a superb kicking display in the first half in particular. I was once again very impressed by Niall Higgins as an attacking outlet from the back while Brian Stack looked back closer to his best form.

If David Clifford scored the point Diarmuid Murtagh kicked off his right in the second half, commentators would rave about it and talk about how unmarkable he is. It’s not like the Dublin defence were taking it easy. Eoin Murchan actually defended really well on that move but the St. Faithleach’s man still managed to wriggle enough space to get a shot away and over the bar.

So we stayed in the game for long, long stretches but the gaps appeared in the end and were duly ruthlessly exploited by the Sky Blues. That was the worry all through. As well as we defended at times, we still looked more likely to offer up gaps as the game wore on, while there was never the sense that we were going to cut the Dubs open at the other end.

For me, that’s the most important next improvement required in this team. We’ve got to hurt teams more with runners from deep. We need to see Enda Smith, Dylan Ruane, Eoin McCormack, Niall Higgins bursting through as a second or third-man runner and contributing on the scoreboard.

Obviously, that’s a heck of a lot easier said than done. We need serious athleticism throughout to be able to do that to a team, and the opposition we were gauging ourselves off the last day were the best in the land. So the hope is that we can have more success in that department against Mayo and Cavan and that should then lead to a healthier return on the scoreboard.

It’s just one game down out of three at this stage so a proper verdict on where we’re at will have to wait. For me, the glass is half full at the moment though. There are enough seeds of hope there from Saturday evening, but that needs to be backed up in the Hyde on Saturday.

Time for ladies to click into gear

The Roscommon ladies’ footballers team their first round of the All-Ireland intermediate Championship away to Wexford this Sunday. They then have Antrim at home a week later. At least one win is required and, on paper, the second game is the one you’d be most confident in.

In a competition where each team ges one home and one away game, the draw could hardly have pitted teams from further apart against each other. I do feel that means an added advantage for the home team in each case. That’s why the Antrim game is the one I’d most expect to win.

Going down to the south east and turning Wexford over will be a big ask on Sunday, particularly on the back of the Model County’s provincial success (they beat Westmeath by a point in the Leinster final last week).

Roscommon come into this on the back of a disappointing defeat to Leitrim in the Connacht final but can look back to the beginning of March for confidence as they beat Wexford by five points in the league.

Wexford are a funny animal at this level though. They are regularly underwhelming in the league but always manage to make a big jump up in performance levels come championship. They seem to be able to find new forwards each year to take on the scoring mantle.

Last year it was Chloe Fox. This year, it’s Aoife Cullen (she kicked 0-9 in the Leinster final). That’s allied to a fairly experienced-looking team throughout so Wexford will be a very stern test for the Rossiettes on Sunday.

For Roscommon’s part, much like their male counterparts, they need to find form now. A win isn’t the be-all and end-all this week, but you would like to see an improved performance.

Injuries and the turnover of players have stretched Roscommon this year but they are still able to put out an impressive-looking first 15, which could compete with anyone in the intermediate championship.

I’ve been thrilled to see Ellen Irwin deployed in the full-back position this year. She’s a natural leader and gives the team a very solid base to build from. Saoirse Wynne has pushed on and looks very comfortable at number six, while there’s good experience around her with the likes of Niamh Feeney and Rachel Fitzmaurice.

Caoimhe Cregg is another player I’ve been really impressed with. She has the makings of a really top midfielder in my eyes, and Kate Nolan and Lisa O’Rourke are also really strong in that sector.

So that kind of personnel up to midfield would give you confidence that Roscommon should be strong defensively and able to earn plenty of possession (Helena Cummins’ kickouts are another big weapon for this team). On top of that then, we have top players like Laura Fleming, Aimee O’Connor and Aisling Hanly up front, so, on paper anyway, that’s an impressive outfit.

Championships aren’t played on paper though. Roscommon’s form from a few weeks ago wouldn’t be good enough to make a serious impact on the All-Ireland Series, so the hope is that they have primed themselves to perform for these next few weeks.

Winning both games and topping the group would be ideal as it would, theoretically, be the route to the easier quarter-final draw. I’m sure Ollie Lennon and his charges will have only Wexford and producing a big performance this Sunday in their sights at the moment.

It’s time for them to click into gear.

Minors moving in right direction

I’ve really enjoyed watching the Roscommon minor football team this year so far.

Mayo were clearly the standout team in the Connacht championship but over the course of the round-robin games and their semi-final versus Galway, and then the final last weekend, Roscommon have definitely narrowed the gap.

They did lots of things right last Friday evening in the Hyde. With an All-Ireland quarter-final to look forward to against Kerry in a couple of weeks, they have the chance to improve further. They’ll need to continue tightening up on their turnover count and they’ll have to practice dealing better with a high press.

The team and management have shown that their graph is on an upward trend and that they learn from each game, so I expect them to put in another big showing the next day.

Top 5…

Despite the two defeats (minor and senior), I enjoyed the games last weekend. Here’s my top 5 scores from them.

Conor Cox: With Dublin 0-8 to 0-6 up, Roscommon got a mighty turnover in the corner back position with a great shoulder by Davy Murray.

Brian Stack played a super clearing pass to Diarmuid Murtagh who moved it up to Daire Cregg who hit a great high ball into Conor Cox in the full-forward position. Dublin did really well to get bodies back quickly but Cox recycled it and looped around to get on it again and kick a great point.

Brilliant football.

Colm Basquel: The goal that really killed the game. Okay, when Roscommon look back they’ll realise they had enough players there to stop Basquel getting the shot off. But from a Dublin point of view, excellent.

Sharp kickpass into O’Callaghan in full-forward, three support runners, a few handpasses and Basquel is within range, fine finish to the corner.

Textbook football.

Diarmuid Murtagh: Picked it up outside the ‘45, ran at Murchan, slipped, managed to get up and keep momentum and shot under serious pressure on his weaker foot from the wrong side. Super score.

Stephen Tighe: Sweet as a nut, outside of the boot from the right corner forward position at the scoreboard end in The Hyde.

Daire Cregg: More textbook football. At 0-3 to 0-1 down, and faced with Dublin having all 15 men back in their own half, Roscommon showed how you beat a mass defence.

They probed from one sideline to the next, stretching the play time and again until eventually Daire Cregg spotted a gap, cut inside from the right sideline to receive a handpass and strike a fine point off his left boot.

Please feel free to send any comments or ideas for the column to mfinneran.mf@gmail.com.