‘We’re giving people something to shout about’

Mark Dowd had heaped praise on his players for getting the Roscommon public back on side as his memorable maiden year in the hot seat continues following Sunday’s stunning Connacht SFC semi-final victory in Castlebar.

The special bond between the players and supporters had dwindled last year as a series of below-par performances eroded confidence levels.

But the level of support in New York was repeated by another healthy “Primrose and Blue” showing in the 15,321 attendance in MacHale Park, and Dowd admitted that the level of support wasn’t lost on the players.

“Yeah, and it's probably something we've seen throughout the league, it's something we definitely saw in New York there two weeks ago as well, in Times Square.

“That was brilliant to see, but, like, no matter what team you are — if you're giving them something to shout about, they're going to come out and support you, and I feel that's what we're doing at the moment.

“You know, maybe in the past we didn't give them that, and they're not going to show up. But when you give them something to shout about, they'll get behind us and they'll back us.

Conor Carroll was the only St. Brigid’s player to start on Sunday, and the manager said that it was up to the remainder of the players from the county champions on the panel to try and make the match-day 26 for Sunday week’s Connacht final against Galway.

“I think the lads will know themselves, like, you know, there's opportunities there to get on the match 26. I'm sure there won't be too many now that won't be looking to tog out now, next Wednesday night for training.

“But that's what we want, isn't it? It's the competition that we're looking for within the squad, and in fairness to them, those guys that didn't make that 26 at all, they're driving standards as well within the group.”