Isn't it great just to see people happy?

Let’s get to the nub of this straight away — isn't it great just to see people happy?

Last Sunday the Hyde staged a Division One league match on St, Brigid’s Day. In the great scheme of things, even GAA things, it’s not especially significant. Yet, as they basked in the early spring sunshine, Roscommon supporters walked into town or back to their cars with smiles on their faces.

Roscommon had just recorded an exciting and crucial win over Monaghan. The first gift Mark Dowd has given to Roscommon football in his opening stanza as team manager is hope.

It may not last — we’ll get to that presently — but it is important that Dowd and his players have already lifted the downbeat mood that had engulfed Roscommon football over the last 12 months.

After Davy Burke’s third year had morphed into a season of drift and disillusion, hopes were not high as Roscommon faced into a daunting Division One campaign. Within two matches and eight days, that mood has been transformed.

Roscommon were smart, defiant and resolute against All-Ireland champions, Kerry — a match in which even the most ardent Rossie gave them little hope.

Being condescended to by Kerry after a valiant defeat is as useful as a peace prize from FIFA — for all the bravery Roscommon showed in Killarney and the wrong calls they went against them, they had to beat Monaghan to have any chance of staying in Division One.

This essential victory was accomplished in a rip-roaring, high-scoring match that has suddenly become the norm in Gaelic football.

That is the point to digress to three years ago. That Sunday night of the St. Brigid’s Bank Holiday weekend in 2023 had the same atmosphere as last Sunday. Roscommon fans were buoyant after a nerve-wracking win over Galway in which Richard Hughes kicked the winning point. Optimism abounded in the early stages of Burke’s reign. That feelgood factor continued until June of that year before fizzling out over the subsequent two years.

What is most notable is the score that day — 0-9 to 0-8. Gaelic football is unrecognisable now — a scoreline like 3-16 to 1-16 doesn’t raise eyebrows in 2026.

Jack O’Connor and Kieran McGeeney may carp at the new rules but Jarlath Burns was shrewd enough to appoint a manager greater than both of them as head of the FRC. Jim Gavin wasn’t suited to politics, but his lasting legacy is that he may have saved football.

Before 2025, if Louis Kelly had got an early goal for Monaghan, it would almost certainly have been game over. Last Sunday, by the seventh minute, Enda Smith had undone the damage.

Enda is the very definition of a talisman — when he plays well, Roscommon play well. Monaghan must have annoyed Smith sometime in his career because this was the second year in succession that Enda has gone on the rampage against the Farney Army in a league match in Hyde Park.

Yet, even with an in-form Enda in their ranks, Roscommon were hesitant and unconvincing for much of the first half. The defence was too open and the forwards too ponderous. The fans behind us were critical of referee Seán Hurson for not giving the Rossies more frees, but, to the more fair-minded, Roscommon weren’t physical enough and too often forwards were shunted off the ball too easily.

All changed in the second half. Suddenly, Roscommon were more urgent as they rediscovered the vigour and vim on display in Killarney.

Central to this were Smith and Diarmuid Murtagh. No Roscommon fan wants to think of the day when these two totemic players leave the stage. It is better to enjoy them now while they remain among us. Early in the second half, they combined for the goal which put the home team in the box seat.

For anyone of my vintage or older, the immortal lines of Con Houlihan about an iconic moment in the 1978 All-Ireland final sprang to mind. Names like Con Houlihan, Mikey Sheehy and Paddy Cullen won’t mean a lot to Generation X. Cullen was a great goalkeeper, maybe not quite as good as Rory Beggan (who has legitimate claims to be regarded as the second greatest goalie of them all), but great nonetheless.

In the 1978 All-Ireland final, Sheedy chipped a free over Cullen as he frantically retreated towards his goal. Con Houlihan wrote for the now-defunct ‘Evening Press’ and when it comes to sports wordsmiths, he was David Clifford, Henry Shefflin, Pele and Maradona rolled into one.

Anyway, Con described Paddy’s desperate and futile backpedal as “a woman who smells a cake burning”. Thus it was for Rory last Sunday.

From the instant Gary Mohan lost possession, Beggan had the haunted look of Cullen long ago. Enda Smith had a different mindset — the ruthlessness of a great player who knows this is the time to pounce. He drove towards the Monaghan goal, and as Rory retreated and defenders converged, he offloaded to Murtagh who finished to the net.

Let me also digress to salute Beggan. In the first half he glided a 45 between the posts. I was behind the trajectory of the kick, it never deviated from a true path from the moment it left his boot. It brought me back to a rugby match long ago in Buccaneers when Athlone hosted high-level representative matches. The legendary Wales out-half Neil Jenkins was lining up a conversion to win the match. Some goons booed as Jenkins ran towards the ball — even the Connacht fans were mortified. It didn’t knock a jot out of Jenkins who stroked the ball between the posts. I was glad Beggan wasn’t jeered as he hit that ’45 — class matters and it was a privilege to witness a Hall of Famer do his thing.

Nevertheless, this was not just a day about Smith, Murtagh and Beggan. New players always emerge as the football story evolves.

Mark Dowd has started by showing the courage of his convictions. He has not rushed back the St. Brigid’s and Strokestown players who were involved in the latter stages of their respective All-Ireland club championships.

Last year, one of the chief criticisms of Roscommon was that a central spine was never established. A Roscommon spine without Brian Stack is hard to imagine but Dowd has endeavoured to give the team a backbone without him.

Caelim Keogh, Ronan Daly, Keith Doyle and Conor Ryan have grasped the opportunity. Not every day will go as smoothly as last Sunday but they and Dowd have earned the right to be afforded patience. Panic is not an option when one of that quartet has a bad day.

Niall Higgins, Senan Lambe and Darragh Heneghan possess the priceless and necessary gift of pace. At times last Sunday it was like a throwback to 2001 and having three Paul Noones in the team.

Higgins’ spellbinding, barnstorming run for Smith’s coup de grace point was a particular highlight. Heneghan’s sumptuous pass for Paddy Gavin to set up the clinching penalty was another.

It was a proud day for the Michael Glaveys club who, at one stage, had four forwards on the field. It was also a red-letter day for Fuerty as Eoin Ward took on the mantle of Niall Kilroy to provide the club with a player on the county team.

On the first day of spring, the sun shone and hope was stirred. In any football season, that is as much as anyone can ask.