Moran looking at bigger picture ahead of Mayo rematch

Roscommon minor football manager, Shane Moran, insists that his players’ legacy won’t be defined by this (Friday) evening’s Connacht minor final result against Mayo at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, Castlebar (throw-in at 6.30 p.m.).

Mayo’s nine-point victory against Galway in their semi-final has given the home side huge momentum as they bid for four-in-a-row, while Roscommon will be looking to win the Tom Kilcoyne Cup for the first time since 2020.

Irrespective of what happens on Friday evening, both teams have All-Ireland quarter-finals to look forward to, but Moran, who saw his side win their four games in the round robin section — including a 4-15 to 3-9 victory against Mayo at King and Moffatt Dr. Hyde Park nearly five weeks ago — has highlighted that the true success of this side will be determined by how many of them go on to represent Roscommon at senior level.

“They’re only 16 and 17-year-old lads. They’re in Fifth Year and TY in school. Mayo were hot favourites for the Connacht U-20 final but Roscommon put it up to them. Anything can happen with young fellas in football. We know that we’ll have to work really hard. Connacht finals take on a life of their own. Mayo are the masters at winning them, so I think the form book goes out the window.

“It’s a great occasion for the players, their families, and their clubs. Not every minor footballer gets to play in a Connacht final. It’s about enjoying it and embracing the occasion.

“We’d be big on what the players are representing. They’re representing their schools, their clubs and their families. We’re just hoping they go out there and do themselves justice.

“But we’re determined that the Connacht final doesn’t define this team. We’ll gauge our success in five or six years’ time. It’s a development competition at the end of the day. It’s about getting as many players through to U-20 next year and hopefully into the senior set-up after that,” he explained.

Needless to say that a lot of water has passed under the bridge since the round robin clash between the sides in early April.

“Mayo have all the momentum coming from the semi-final — a nine-point win against a really good Galway team. They deserve huge respect for that. Obviously we beat them in the group stages, so that put a target on our back. But they’ve made huge improvements.

“They’re a very well-coached team, they have a good defensive structure. Conor Hession was outstanding against Galway. They’re the county that won 41 Connacht titles, Roscommon only have 14. They’re going for four-in-a-row. If you can’t respect that, I don’t know what you can respect.

“They’ve won their semi-final in Castlebar and now they have the chance to play their final there, so they’re gunning for us. But we’ll go down there and give it a right good shot. That’s the aim,” he remarked.

Roscommon haven’t played a competitive game since their narrow victory against Leitrim on May 11th, allowing the management and players to iron out some of the creases that were evident in the group stages of the competition.

“We definitely won’t be using the break as an excuse. It has given us the opportunity rest up and get a few niggles right. We’ve been looking to try and improve a few things. We won the four round robin games but we pinpointed a lot of things that we needed to work on in training. We’ve tried to get those things right without having the pressure of a Connacht semi-final. We hope to put that into action against Mayo and get the performance that we want.

“I’d love to be sitting in the Hyde in five or six years’ time, and see seven or eight of these lads playing senior football for Roscommon. To me, that would be success.

“Sure, it would be lovely to win a Connacht championship. It would be a huge thing for the lads. But we’ve always said to these guys from the start that this campaign won’t define them as footballers. You have to keep it in perspective, it’s what’s down the line that’s important,” he concluded.