The times were different back then

Ruislip holds fond memories for me as I made my championship debut there in 2005. I still have the London jersey I got from my direct opponent that day, Eamon Brennan.

We weren’t in a great place at that stage. We’d been mediocre in the league, which included an easy defeat of London in Hyde Park.

Towards the end of the league, Tommy Carr resigned as manager and Val Daly stepped in. Val brought me onto the panel straight away (I’d been with the U-21s but hadn’t played senior) and I played the last two games against Longford and Leitrim.

So my Roscommon debut was that game against Longford, and it was a special moment for me, but I think there’s something even more important and memorable about making your championship debut.

Many of my family made the trip over. That’s a recurring theme of these big matches in London and likewise New York — lots of family and supporters make a mini-holiday out of it. It even extends to fundraising activities.

For example, you’ll see that Tulsk GAA Club ran a massive money-spinner over the weekend just gone.

It’s even part of the whole logistics of the trip. There’ll often be sponsors’ functions on the eve of the game, which some players or management are asked to attend.

Then when you get to match day, you’re greeted by a carnival-like atmosphere in Ruislip. There’ll be music blaring from the bar and plenty of supporters who are half-cut coming out to give you words of advice as you take the field.

They’ve built an impressive new stand and the playing surface looks much better now, but back in 2005 it was more rough around the edges.

I particularly remember going in at half time that day. There’s a 20-or-so yard walk from the pitch to the changing rooms and it was thronged with lads spitting abuse at us and roaring on the Londoners. We were two points down at that stage and a shock looked on the cards.

We were in a real battle. I moved from midfield to full-forward in the last ten minutes and managed to kick a good point which helped get us over the line. I still have visions though of a late opportunity for London which rattled our crossbar, inches away from what would have been a humiliating defeat.

From then on, for the next ten years or so anyway, there was always a nagging sense that London might catch someone and cause a massive championship upset. Both Mayo and Galway had close calls subsequently, and then London got their win eventually in 2013 against Leitrim. They even went on to beat Sligo that year and compete in the Connacht final against Mayo.

Thinking back to our line-up that day, it was strong enough. We were backboned by the likes of Shane Curran, Francie Grehan, Seamus O’Neill and Stephen Lohan. Ger Heneghan was our top scorer on the day. Seanie McDermott also made his debut in that game.

I can remember we stayed at the Stamford Bridge Hotel, which is connected to the Chelsea stadium. We even had a meeting in the room where Jose Mourinho gave his pre-game team-talks!

I also recall there was some cock-up with the food order when we got there on the Friday night and so we ended up walking the streets of London at around 9 p.m. looking for a late dinner. Not ideal match preparation!

When we returned to London five years later, this time under Fergie O’Donnell, it was a completely different story. The professionalism with which those logistics were organised had increased dramatically. We took the game a lot more seriously and gave the opposition the respect they deserved, and duly ran out comfortable winners. Job done.

It’s funny now to look back and compare, but the similarities between the contrasting trips to London five years apart were echoed in the New York trips. We survived a scare in Gaelic Park in 2006 but in 2011 our preparation was much better and focussed on getting the job done and we won easily.

As I said last week, I don’t believe there’s much, if any value, in analysis of last weekend’s 19-point victory with a view down the road.

Game won, no injuries — I’m very happy with that.

I got to watch Donegal and Derry in action on Sunday and that’s a game which I was very interested in. It was the first real demonstration of the rule enhancements in place in a championship encounter between two teams of a similar standard.

It was noticeably very cagey and slow-moving early on. Opponents of these rule changes would have surely remarked that things hadn’t changed much.

Thankfully it did open up after about 20 minutes, largely due to the excellent Daire Ó Baoill. Up to then, the crowded zonal defence on both sides had been on top.

The truth however is that all teams should be able to unlock the zone-defences against a maximum of 11 players. Once they get strong and well-timed support runs or slick kicking moves, scores will come thick and fast.

Donegal’s scoring rate after the first quarter was excellent. They certainly look like a team primed to go very close to ultimate honours this year.

SPLIT SEASON

On a different note, I feel that I need to temper my previous unbridled enthusiasm towards the split season. I’m still happy with the overall theory of it, but I have to say I’m in agreement now with those who say our games don’t have room to breathe at the moment.

That first round of the championship came upon us very quickly, didn’t it. Even an extra week’s break between the league and championship would help. A two-week lead-in would be better for building the anticipation and excitement.

In fact, two weeks is, I’d say, the ideal window between games. The week-on-week games are just coming at us so fast that it means we can’t give enough attention to each game, and I’d fear some absolute crackers will pass under the radar as this year progresses because of that.

I think there’s talk of bringing forward the league finals by a week next year. That would be a help — that or scrapping them altogether.

It’s a nice build-up to the Galway game now, and it’s ideally set up for us in many ways. All the pressure will be on Galway from the point of view that they are strong favourites.

Our lads will relish the challenge. We definitely have the personnel in my book to win it. We do need to see a big jump up though in intensity levels over the 70 minutes and more fluency in transition and up front if we’re going to do it.

The feeling in most quarters seems to be that Galway remain ahead of us. I can see why, but there must be question marks over them too. After a decent start to the league, they fell away with two defeats in their last two games.

These few weeks now are savagely important. I hope and expect that both teams will look much different from what we saw in the league in terms of their gameplan.

That unpredictability makes Salthill on April 20th an intriguing and exciting prospect.

*Please continue to send your thoughts and ideas for this column to me at mfinneran.mf@gmail.com