‘We’re further down the road’ — Burke
Cathal Heneghan makes his long-awaited return from injury against Sligo this evening. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie
Davy Burke has expressed his satisfaction that his team are much further down the road in terms of their preparation for the new season ahead of their Connacht FBD football quarter-final against Sligo at the University of Galway Connacht GAA Air Dome this (Friday) evening (throw-in at 7 p.m.).
Roscommon won last year’s corresponding contest by 3-17 to 2-13 after trailing by three points at the break. At the time Burke hinted that he’d prefer pre-season competitions to “be done away with” but, with plenty of new players being integrated into this year’s panel, the Roscommon manager admitted that he’s embracing this year’s competition for what it is.
“Looking back, I thought the competition stood us in fairly good stead. I’d still prefer if it was played outdoors on a grass pitch.
“We have a load of younger bucks in with us this year. With St. Brigid’s and Castlerea in All-Ireland semi-finals alongside a few of the older lads carrying knocks, there are a good few lads that we want to see. The conditions that you get in the Dome, I’d be hoping they will suit them down to the ground.
“So we’d be looking forward to the FBD, getting a look at those newer fellas we have in and getting minutes into the more seasoned lads as well. It will be a nice way to get over Christmas and the New Year by starting into a competitive game so early.
“We’re a long, long way down the road this season compared to this time last year. The work we have done on the field and off the field is streets ahead of what we got done up to last June."
“It might still take us a while to find full flight because there are a lot of balls up in the air at the moment — a couple of lads coming back from long-term injuries alongside having the Connacht club champions at senior and intermediate level. So while we’re far more advanced than we were this time last year, we probably don’t have the same selection of personnel at the moment. That will obviously come,” he explained.
Outside of Ciaráin Murtagh, Cian McKeon and Conor Daly, who are unavailable this season, and the retired Niall Kilroy, Roscommon will welcome back Tadhg O’Rourke from injury, although it will, most likely, be the middle of the National Football League before the Tulsk midfielder returns to action. Ultan Harney is working hard to see game time too, and, once again, the NFL is the most likely stage for his eagerly-awaited comeback.
However, one player Burke expects to see hit the ground running in the FBD is the county’s recently-crowned All-Star, Enda Smith.
“Enda will be playing, 100 per cent. Like a lot of lads, he has picked up a few knocks and niggles, so the extra break probably did him no harm. But he’s training well and, more than likely, we’ll be seeing Enda against Sligo.
“There are knocks and niggles at this time of year with heavy pre-season. In general, we’re not too bad. We’ve gone for a smaller squad, which means we have fewer players available. But there are pros and cons to that. We think that the pros outweigh the cons in that the quality of our training is brilliant. We might only have 20 on the field some nights, but the quality of the sessions are really high,” he continued.
The recent challenge game against Donegal in Ballyshannon was a “proper game” in Burke’s eyes, and he was delighted to see the players brought into the panel getting exposure in terms of what a big match day entails.
“The game against Donegal was our first main day out. There were a couple of thousand supporters at it. To be honest, it was a proper game, nearly like half a league game to be honest. It was worth more than ten training sessions.
“I couldn’t have been happier with the whole thing — the application, the attitude, the performance. We were rusty as you’d expect. Our shooting and efficiency were way off. But the attitude, the workrate, the tackling were bang on against a Donegal team — if you believe what you read — that have a mountain of work done.
“They were just home from seven days in Tenerife where they had 13 pitch sessions behind them. We’re just coming off the back of ten or 11 sessions in Kiltoom. So we’d be pretty happy that we’re not a million miles off.
“It was a good day out — a full day with the bus, pre-match meal, post-match meal, meetings — so the new lads in the squad that will be featuring in the national league got the full look at it. They’ll know what it’s going to be like up in Omagh at the end of January. So it was ideal from that regard and I could see a lot of last year standing to us,” he highlighted.
And what of this evening’s opponents who caused the Rossies plenty of problems in the opening half of last year’s corresponding fixture?
“Sligo were well ahead of us in last year’s game at half time before we just about turned it around. I’m looking forward to the FBD. Whether we win it or not is another thing. I’ll be looking to play three games before we head for Tyrone. If that’s three FBD League games, brilliant. If it’s only one or two, so be it. As I said, it’s about getting minutes into players and I think, with the type of environment in the Dome, we have five or six players that should be mopping that up,” he concluded.
Despite the absence of some familiar names, Roscommon should be in a position to field a reasonably strong side. With Omagh coming into view at the end of the month, Burke simply has no other choice than to find a balance between bringing his seasoned campaigners up to speed and unearthing a few new players who can nail down a starting berth for the upcoming challenges.
With the winners playing Mayo or London the following Saturday (January 13th), Roscommon will want to build up some early momentum. A win against Sligo should get that particular ball rolling.
: Colm Lavin (Éire Óg); Luke Glennon (Boyle), Evan Flynn (Tulsk Lord Edwards), Caelim Keogh (Pádraig Pearses); Niall Daly (Pádraig Pearses), Colin Walsh (Oran), Declan Kenny (Pádraig Pearses); Keith Doyle (St. Dominic's), Enda Smith (Boyle); Daire Cregg (Boyle), Donie Smith (Boyle), Cian Connolly (Roscommon Gaels); Diarmuid Murtagh (St. Faithleach's, captain), Cathal Heneghan (Michael Glaveys), Jack Duggan (Clonguish).
