Let's stay dreaming to keep the good times rolling

We’re immersed in a magical, if unexpected, dream that we don’t want to end.

An excellent league campaign that saw Roscommon preserve their Division One status was followed by a global gathering of Rossies in New York. What happened on the pitch in Gaelic Park was predictable, something that couldn’t be said when Mark Dowd’s side subsequently conquered Mayo by ten points at their leisure in MacHale Park.

Then there’s our U-20 team — endowed with limitless character and courage — who have decorated the trophy cabinet with a third Connacht title this decade. The minor footballers have just completed two-in-a-row — something that has only ever been done once before in 2011 and 2012.

The sun is shining, and the Rossies are making hay.

But there is still so much to accomplish, so much history to be rewritten.

It’s 25 years since Fergal O’Donnell became the last Roscommon captain to lift the Nestor Cup in the Hyde. Those who think that “it’s meant to be” will have their belief levels buttressed by knowing that the heroes from that never-to-be-forgotten afternoon in 2001 will be honoured on Sunday afternoon.

When Roscommon last got the better of Galway in a championship game in the Hyde — a team captained by Paul Earley and inspired by Eamon ‘Junior’ McManus — Jack Charlton, Packie Bonner, David O’Leary and company had just completed their heroics at Italia ’90.

Like the whole of Ireland 36 years ago, a county holds its breath.

Since 2001, Roscommon have been involved in just two finals on their home patch — on a filthy wet day in 2011 just weeks after the controversial closure of the local hospital’s A&E when they were edged out by Mayo, and 2018 when a positive first-half performance proved to be a false dawn against Galway.

In other words, chances like this don’t come around very often.

On Sunday afternoon, a young, exciting team dotted with a few experienced heads will be the latest side to flirt with the history books when they welcome Galway to the Hyde, trying to stop a county competing in its 11th consecutive provincial decider from completing five-in-a-row.

It feels more important than just a Connacht final. Just like Ireland 36 years ago, it is an opportunity for Roscommon people to stand tall and shed their inhibitions.

Being a plucky underdog is great when you usurp a rival or a team perceived to be better than you are. But it only gets you so far. Expectation must be embraced, not feared.

And therein lies that challenge for Mark Dowd and his players on Sunday afternoon.

They have set pulses racing, reconnecting that special bond between supporters and their heroes. The stand and terraces will be a sea of Primrose and Blue, wanting this exciting team that have liberated people from the challenges of daily living to succeed.

They want to see Diarmuid Murtagh — a generational Roscommon footballer — finally handed the baton by Fergal O’Donnell and take his place as a Connacht-winning captain on his home turf.

They’ll hope that Senan Lambe, Colm Neary, Conor Carroll, Ronan Daly, the Heneghan cousins, Dylan Ruane — Roscommon’s unsung hero this season — Keith Doyle and the game-changer that is Enda Smith will play to their potential and lay a platform for the county to win a first Connacht title in seven years.

Everyone remembers where they were in the Hyde when Gerry Lohan stuck the ball in the back of the Mayo net 25 years ago. Those who will be there on Sunday will want to relive another golden moment in the county’s fabled GAA folklore.

You’ll hear about match-ups, key battlegrounds and potential match-winners this week. You’ll hear about five-in-a-row chasing Galway’s experience and how key players in maroon and white are returning from injuries.

What you’ll hear less of is the beavering in the background by Mark Dowd and his management team to make sure that Roscommon are ready for this day.

Often, it’s the hope that kills you. But, this weekend, Rossies from Taughmaconnell to Ballyfarnon, and further afield, are believing that this dream — already heaving with a myriad of special memories — has another few weeks, at least, to run yet.

Let’s keep the good times rolling.

Verdict: Roscommon