Moran delighted to nourish Roscommon CBS tradition

There was no disguising the satisfaction emanating from Roscommon CBS joint manager, Noel Moran, as he dissected his side’s qualification for a first tilt at the Paddy Drummond Cup since 2019.

The best laid plans of mice and men, and all that, but Moran was thrilled with the way his players handled the distractions that beset the final 24 hours of Saturday’s All-Ireland semi-final.

“I think the final scoreline suggests that we played as well as we’ve done all year. We had told the lads that when the chances were there, just take them. Maybe there was some dirty diesel in the tank early on but once the lads found their rhythm and broke lines, there were definitely scores in us.

“Colin Murray scored a fantastic goal, Freddie Kelly’s was equally as good. We missed a few chances early in the second half but, overall, we’d be very happy with the performance. We have a bit more to build on. You’re always trying to improve but we’re just delighted to get over the line here today, despite the disruptions.

“We were coming here, 90 miles. The opposition probably only had to come around ten. So we had to deal with all that. But we’ve great people around us to help us out. It’s a proud day for the school, a proud day for the clubs involved and a proud day for all the people that have got us here, including sponsors and parents,” he remarked.

On what of the decision to play an All-Ireland semi-final on a 4G pitch?

“We played some good teams in challenge games around Connacht — Summerhill, Jarlath’s twice and Colman’s. We actually played Summerhill on their 3G pitch, which was quite similar to the surface we played on here. So the lads did know how to play on a pitch like this but it was a bit bizarre that we had to play here when the grass pitches around us looked perfect.

“We didn’t let it get into the players. We heard at 4 or 5 o’clock on Friday evening that the game was pulled from Kinnegad. We had to come here and be up for it. Seán Boylan (former Meath manager) is involved with Dunboyne and we knew he’d have them well-tutored. They were coming at us at the end, but our lads repelled it,” he highlighted.

The sides were evenly matched early on, but Moran was thrilled with the way his side gained the initiative and pushed on.

“My mantra is that you have to outwork the opposition and hopefully you end up outscoring them. They outworked us at the start, but we got to grips with them, got level and pushed on. The goal got them back into it but, in an All-Ireland semi-final, they were going to have a spell. It called for calm heads and we managed it quite well, I thought.

“I suppose you could say that it (getting to finals) is in the DNA of the school. 

We don’t develop players like Eoghan Carthy or Michael Gillooly, but we give them a different spectrum of play. They can’t play enough of games like this. I’m sure county management was here today as well, and this feeds into that.

“But our priority is the school, and keeping the tradition going. Hopefully we can get over the line the next day but we’ll have to prepare well to reach our target,” he concluded.

Joint manager, Eoghan Coll, felt that different players had stepped up to the plate to secure the triumph.

“We were a little bit slow to start but once we got going around the middle, we dominated the air for ten or 15 minutes. We got a lot of scores off that, including a great Colin Murray goal. Cian Duggan was excellent inside, showing really well.

“It was great to see different lads making an impact today. It means we can get a variety of scores from different players. We’re really happy to see the panel sharing the loads between them.

“It's great to be in an All-Ireland final, but you want to win it. We need to be right. When we get the intensity up and go hard at teams, we’re very hard to stop,” he said.