Next few weeks a conundrum for Roscommon

Former Galway footballer Barry Cullinane believes that Davy Burke’s men must learn harsh lessons from the Tribesmen’s straightforward nine-point victory in Sunday’s one-sided Connacht semi-final at Pearse Stadium.

Cullinane believes that managing the lengthy wait until the start of the All-Ireland Series will be a test for Roscommon, adding they will need to iron out creases in their game to build on last year’s run to the All-Ireland quarter-final.

“That is the conundrum now for Davy Burke. They have a good wait ahead of them before they head into the All-Ireland Series. I think they will be fine, but they have a lot to work on. They lost the midfield battle out there and didn’t produce a performance they would have expected,” he felt.

However, the former Galway midfielder felt that there was too much frustration on Roscommon’s part towards decisions made by the officials during the game. That frustration needed to be channelled elsewhere, in his view.

“I would, maybe, be a little bit critical of Roscommon on the line. I thought there were times they got frees, and yet they still didn’t seem happy with that. Did they want yellow cards? For me, if I was looking at that, I would be saying that, maybe, Roscommon need to focus more on what they are doing themselves rather than what is going on with officials.

“I understand you are out there in the white heat of championship, but you need to be focusing on trying to get your top players, the likes of your Enda Smiths, more involved.

“At times Pádraic does it and Scan (John Concannon) does it (talk to officials) but they are that bit more composed. I thought Galway got it tactically spot on today. I thought the decision to put Sean Mulkerrin on Enda Smith proved really, really successful and was a good platform for Galway to get a good win,” Cullinane stated.

The Galway Bay FM analyst credited his native county’s runs from deep and composure on the ball for helping them kick an impressive 1-24. With Rob Finnerty tearing through the visitors’ defence time and again to slot over eight points, six from play, the worries over Roscommon’s defence proved well-founded.

Cullinane claimed Galway’s midfield dominance and superior athleticism helped them shine in attack, but he felt that Roscommon would need a drastic improvement defensively in the All-Ireland Series.

“There was movement coming from every place, their (Galway’s) decision-making was spot on. Their skill execution was spot on. The movement of their forwards, and then they took some brilliant scores.

“I thought the transition between half-back and half-forward, that middle third Galway got through it so much quicker than Roscommon. I thought, athletically, Galway looked a good bit ahead of Roscommon and they moved the ball so quickly. They had runners coming from everywhere and Roscommon couldn’t deal with it.

“Rob Finnerty, to be fair, was brilliant, but Davy Burke and the Roscommon management will be looking at the full-back line and saying he had the freedom of the park all day. Roscommon couldn’t get a handle on him, but I think a lot of it came from the platform Galway got in the middle of the pitch,” Cullinane noted.

If there is a crumb of comfort to be taken from a chastening evening in Salthill, it was the fact that Roscommon managed to slot three two-pointers, something they had struggled to do on a consistent basis during the league.

“They (Galway) probably decided to keep that separation between full-back line and half-back line as minimal as possible. They weren’t overly pushing out on Roscommon, maybe thinking Roscommon didn’t have that two-point shooting in their locker. The Murtaghs kicked one each and when Roscommon did get a chance to pull the trigger, they more than took it,” he stated.

Overall, Cullinane believes that Galway’s strong defensive showing will serve them well for the Connacht final. Seán Fitzgerald did a fine job on Diarmuid Murtagh while Jack Glynn shackled Ciaráin Murtagh.

Even though Ben O’Carroll looked the most menacing Roscommon forward, Johnny McGrath grew in stature as the game progressed, leaving Cullinane to conclude that the Galway defence can take huge confidence into the Connacht final.

“Liam Silke, a guy who is a victim of his own success in that he is constantly so good that when he puts in these brilliant performances, we don’t take notice of it. Dylan McHugh, Seán Kelly, Liam Silke, they give our full-back line so much help.

“Jack Glynn, I thought, thundered into it. A guy who hasn’t played a huge amount of football this year, maybe a bit rusty at times but overall, he will be really, really happy with that outing. This will stand to the Galway defenders, coming up to the cauldron of MacHale Park and against Mayo’s forwards,” Cullinane concluded.