Making progress would be a good year for Burke

Deep down, Davy Burke is hopeful that the stars are beginning to align for this Roscommon team. More to the point, it’s now or never for some of his players.

New rules, which should play into the hands of marquee forwards alongside the return of quality personnel, a good year isn’t a farfetched aspiration. The anticipation is palpable.

But what exactly constitutes a satisfactory 2025? Promotion from Division Two, a Connacht title, or breaking the All-Ireland quarter-final ceiling?

Now in his third year at the helm, Burke knows that second-tier league football this season, which doesn’t contain an Armagh, Donegal, Dublin or Derry, presents his side with a realistic chance to follow the path of the last four consecutive campaigns in Division Two where Roscommon have returned to top-flight football.

And yet, the only thing predictable about the next few months is the unpredictability that a new game — the merits of which have been debated up and down the country — will bring.

“We haven’t set any goals like to get out of Division Two, or to win a Connacht or All-Ireland title. Obviously, the lads work with our sports psychologist, Kelley Faye — who’s brilliant — and they set short-term or immediate goals.

“For me, a good year is to make progress again. Last 12 in my first year, All-Ireland quarter-final in my second year, so the aim is to move forward. Certain players haven’t come back to dine at the same table. We want to make progress.

“Success is progress, whatever that looks like. You have to remember that we’re still dealing with a huge amount of young guys, and more. Two or three from last year’s U-20s will feature prominently on top of all those players from the All-Ireland U-20 final a couple of years ago. So we’re still dealing with a very young squad, complimented nicely by the older gang. I’d be very happy that we’re making progress, but we have to show that between now and July,” he highlighted.

With pretty much a clean bill of health for the season ahead, it has been all systems go since Burke and his players returned to training. Players have left for one reason or another, but much of the talk has been about the return of ‘absent friends’ like Ciaráin Murtagh, Cian McKeon, Shane Killoran, Eddie Nolan and Conor Daly. You can even throw Ben O’Carroll into the mix after an injury-disrupted season for the Brigid’s star following the 2024 All-Ireland club final.

“Niall Daly probably won’t be available, first round anyway. We’d hope to have him available very quickly after that. But he’s back in training with us, he’s just working through that knock (plantar fasciitis) he had. We’ve nothing else, just run-of-the-mill stuff.

“Ben (O’Carroll) is back in with us but we’ll be very much managing his load. He’s just returning after a long-term injury that required surgery. We’ll be monitoring him closely. It will be a case of ‘slowly slowly’ with him, but what an exciting player to have back with us.

“It’s the strongest panel I’ve had, definitely. There are no club distractions, there are a number of lads returning to the panel, even though it’s going to take them some time to adjust to playing at this level again. So it would strike me as the strongest panel I’ve had in my three years. It does feel like watching training that there’s an increase in the quality around the place. For all the hard work and best attitude in the world, there’s no substitute for quality,” he pointed out.

But, with only three home league games, the room for error will be watertight.

“We’re in Division Two now, and deservedly so. I’m a big believer that you end up where you are for a reason. Our fixtures are tough, we’ve only three home games. It’s the second year in a row that has happened to us.

“If you watch a lot of National League fixtures, the home team tend to win a lot of games. We’ve four on the road, which is a big challenge. But we’re looking forward to it. We have a lot of fresh lads ready to unleash, new lads or else guys coming back to us.

“The new rules make it very exciting. The unknown is probably the most exciting part of it. We’re training away trying to implement some things, and hoping we’re right. Ultimately, nobody knows. No one has played this game before.” 

With challenge games against Mayo, Dublin and Kerry in recent weeks, Burke is enthused by where Gaelic football is going, although he has reservations about the new rules’ impact at club level.

“From my limited exposure to the game through a couple of challenge games and training sessions, I think we have an excellent product now. I’d be really excited by this new game. It’s high-scoring, free-flowing, high-speed running, 1v1 contests, more kicking, long kickouts. I really like where the game is going.

“Yes, it will take time to bed in, but I think, overall, that the intercounty game will be an excellent spectacle. It will take a few weeks until the referees, management, and players get up to speed. There will be mistakes. We’re all human.

“Overall, I think supporters will be delighted with it after they see a few rounds. The crowd will understand why that decision was made or why that free was given.

“I would have concerns with how it’s going to be implemented at club level, but my primary concern is managing the Roscommon senior footballers. When you have an intercounty referee, two intercounty linesmen and four intercounty umpires, it will be a savage game. It will be a much-improved spectacle.” 

And what about the suggestion that these new rules should suit Roscommon’s attacking potential? Too simplistic or realistic?

“I think there are good forwards everywhere. Every team we’re hoping to compete with at the top table will back themselves with five or six top-quality forwards. Absolutely, we have those forwards, so it should suit us.

“Before I came in, I’d say defending wasn’t the number one strength of the team. To compete in Division One, we probably had to turn the dial a bit and focus a bit more on defence, especially in the first year.

“Now, you can only focus on your defensive work so much. You have to accept that you’re going to concede because you can only defend with 11 players. Essentially, you have to try and limit the opposition’s scoring and score more up the other end.

“They (new rules) have encouraged more coaching on attacking play, taking men on etc. The reason you’ll see more players taking on their men is because there will be no plus one or sweeper behind them. Previously, if you were taking that man on, you were running into extra bodies and getting turned over, which killed the oxygen of the team.

“Now, if you get 1v1, you must take him on because the cover the defender had previously simply isn’t there.

“You just need to accept now that you’re going to concede, probably a decent score. For the past two years in the league when we played Galway, one was a low-scoring win for us and the other was a low-scoring draw in the Hyde last year. I couldn’t see that happening under these rules. Before, 0-12, 0-13, 0-14 or 0-15 max would have done you to win a league game. Now, I’d be fairly sure you’re going to need more.

“The other thing is that long kickouts are back. With the 40-metre arc, you don’t have much choice but to hit it long. Even for a ‘keeper of Conor Carroll’s calibre, it’s a very tricky kickout across the board,” he explained.

The visit of Tailteann Cup champions Down will focus the mind. With former Slaughneil boss and Mourne County footballer, Mark Doran, now part of Burke’s backroom team, the manager believes that an in-form side will arrive in the Hyde expecting to pick up two league points.

“We’ll be targeting all our home games for victories, six points out of six. All we’re guaranteed this year in the Hyde are three games in the national league and one in the All-Ireland Series if we’re in it. So we only might end up playing four games at home all year. So we want to make hay while we’re there.

“There seems to be a big push behind Down after winning the Tailteann Cup. They’re full of Kilcoo players, there’s the Conor Laverty factor, so there appears to be momentum and a lot of confidence there. One of my coaches is a Down man, so he has been hearing bits and pieces. I’ve no doubt that Down will be coming with all guns blazing,” he predicted.

Last week Daire Cregg, in an interview ahead of UCD’s Sigerson Cup campaign, was very optimistic about Roscommon’s chances this year. Burke doesn’t want to pour cold water on such expectations, highlighting the Boyle player’s high hopes reflect the environment he’s part of.

“Every young lad growing up with their club has dreams of playing for their county and winning the Sam Maguire Cup. That’s the way it should be. We can all want to win things, but do you believe in the product you have or the people you have around you will deliver that?

“I’d be a realist. We don’t deal too much in fantasy, that we’re going to win A, B or C. If you don’t believe it, I can’t sell it because I’m not a good salesman. When you get the right people in the room, however, including a good county board pushing with you, that’s when you start to believe more and feel that there’s something more here for us.

"So, the lads are looking around and have decided to put the head down here and see where it takes us,” he concluded.

Fasten your seat belts, it promises to be one hell of a rollercoaster.