Sometimes, winning isn’t everything

When a group of players flirt with the limits of their capabilities, you can ask for no more.

The Roscommon U-20 footballers may have lost last Wednesday week’s pulsating provincial final, but they won many admirers in defeat.

Mayo were the warmest of favourites and were well on their way to justifying that perception when they raced 1-7 to 0-1 clear inside 20 minutes. What happened next is the memory Roscommon people will take away from this game.

With their hopes wilting in the sweltering Tuam sauna, Cian Smith’s side dug deep and unearthed a response that almost procured the unlikeliest of victories.

It was there for Roscommon when captain Rob Heneghan brought the sides level with his side’s fourth goal with seven minutes remaining. In Roscommon’s next two attacks, Brian Greene and John McGuinness launched efforts that went the wrong side of the posts.

With the momentum behind them, Roscommon couldn’t turn water into wine.

Then, in injury time, came the biggest kick in the teeth of them all. Rory Carthy’s floated delivery from the right wing was palmed to the net by Ruairí Kilcline. Given that the ball was airborne for such a long time, it was a harsh call by Thomas Murphy and his umpires to deduce that the St. Dominic’s substitute had infringed inside the small square.

For a game that looked dead and buried early on, it was now, incredibly, being decided by the smallest margins — the wafer-thin millimetres that often determine the difference between success and disappointment.  

Given the ease at which Mayo could knock over scores, Kilcline’s goal — had it been allowed to stand — may not have been enough but, at least, it would have given Roscommon something to protect.

All the pressure would have been on Mayo to come up with, at least, an equaliser. Given that they haven’t been rocked from their comfort zone too many times during this championship, they would have been scratching their heads wondering how it had come to this.

Mayo are a very good side but their full-back line will be targeted by the remaining protagonists in this year’s championship. Granted the loss of Eoin McGreal through injury appeared to unsettle them, how John McGuinness was allowed to waltz through the centre of their defence for his memorable two first-half goals will necessitate some honest reflection between now and their All-Ireland semi-final against Louth.

McGuinness’ wizardry for those two goals was in keeping with the trend of the game. Whereas Mayo moved the ball quickly from defence to attack as part of a coherent gameplan predicated by midfield dominance, Roscommon relied on moments of individual brilliance to keep them in touch.

While Tommy Morris and Cillian Campbell stretched every limb, almost beyond breaking point, to try and keep tabs on Mayo’s Three Amigos in their full-forward line — Darragh Beirne, Niall Hurley and Tom Lydon — the space being afforded to the “Green and Red’s” potent attacking trio wasn’t sustainable.

That 1-7 without reply after John Curran had opened Roscommon’s account was almost effortless, and inevitable, given the way Oliver Armstrong and Seamus Howard lorded their opponents’ kickout.

Just when all seemed lost, the Carthy brothers — Eoghan and Rory — took it upon themselves to drag their side’s back into the game. Eoghan was, once again, immense at centre-back, while Rory looked composed and assured when he was close to goal.

If we’re looking at two players who have the potential to play senior football for Roscommon down the line, then look no further.

In the second half, when the scores started to dry up, Eoin Collins — who has another two seasons at U-20 level — mopped up so much ball through his infectious appetite for work.

While Patrick Gaynor, who was minor goalkeeper last year, struggled to find primrose and blue jerseys with some of his kickouts, especially during Mayo’s purple patch, he made two huge saves in the second half. The young Western Gaels goalkeeper embodied the spirit permeating through this Roscommon team.

When the dust settles on this campaign, the report card will make for positive reading — an unheralded team beforehand that caught everyone’s attention under the astute management of Cian Smith.

Given that players like Patrick Gaynor, Eoghan Carthy, David Higgins, John McGuinness, John Curran, Eoin Collins and Ruairí Kilcline are underage again next year, Smith has a solid spine from which to work with.

A fully-fit Rob Heneghan and Brian Greene could have been the difference between a glorious defeat and a successful defence of the young Rossies' crown. Both players missed large tracts of the campaign through injury. Outside of Rory Carthy and John McGuinness, Roscommon didn’t have enough players equipped to come up with the big scores on a regular basis.

But the key thing for any Roscommon team at this level is to be competitive, as it has always been. In a round robin format, taking both Mayo and Galway’s scalp will always be a huge ask.

For the second successive year, Roscommon reached the final and, crucially, gave an excellent account of themselves against a Mayo side desperate for the county’s first U-20 title in seven years — a famine by their standards.

It's impossible to read into minor results from three years previously as a guide to how a county might fare at U-20 level. Just look at Galway this year — All-Ireland minor champions in 2022 and they didn’t even make this year’s provincial U-20 semi-final.

Roscommon didn’t win a game at minor level three years ago, apart from the B final against Leitrim, and they were within a kick of the ball of becoming Connacht U-20 champions.

In other words, there are no guarantees. But, crucially, Roscommon have the building blocks in place — enough players with experience from this season alongside, presumably, the same coaching ticket that left no stone unturned to get the maximum out of this group of players.

When the disappointment subsides, that should be the big takeaway from an excellent campaign that surpassed expectations.