‘We’re leaving here with a lot of learnings’

There have been many occasions when Roscommon managers didn’t know which way to turn following chastening experiences in Castlebar. This wasn’t one of them.

Mark Dowd arrived in the Mick Loftus room on the first floor of MacHale Park’s main stand and clearly explained his thinking behind team selection and the possible implications from a 21-point defeat that didn’t flatter the home side.

Minutes earlier, his Mayo counterpart, Andy Moran, had opined that Sunday’s result would have absolutely no bearing on a possible Connacht semi-final meeting in less than five weeks’ time.

Dowd was less explicit, but it was clear where his priorities lay heading for Castlebar last weekend.

“It’s an understatement to say that the scoreline wasn’t pretty. You saw it with the way both teams lined out. We wanted to make sure that we got minutes into as many players on our panel as we could. We did that.

“The easiest thing to do at half time would have been to bring on other lads, but it was a conscious decision we made to get as many minutes into lads in our last league game.” 

When pressed what Roscommon wanted out of the match, with an outside shot of a league final on the table, the manager insisted that he wanted to get a handle on a broader range of players within his panel.

“The same as any game, we took this game on its merits. We wanted to get guys in, get them playing and used to a system. For some lads, it was their first time involved with us this season, and we just wanted to see where they’re at.

“When we started the league, we wanted to give game-time to players. We feel as if we’ve used our panel wisely. We’ve got lads into a structure that we want them playing in. Some lads put up their hands, others will have to push on and show us more over the next few weeks,” he suggested.

When asked about the relevance of the result going forward, Dowd highlighted that Roscommon’s protection of the ball would have to be better if the sides crossed paths again.

“We just gave the ball away cheaply at times. When you give a team like Mayo those opportunities, they are going to punish you. If you look where we gave away the ball, in central channels, they overturned us, and they punished us.

“If we come down here and play like that again, it will be the same result. We’re leaving here with a lot of learnings going back up the road. But there’s a lot of football to be played between now and then.” 

Overall, however, Dowd acknowledged that it had been a good campaign for Roscommon.

“Overall, we’re very pleased with our league. Everyone was saying we were relegation fodder. We just took one game at a time, and that got us to where we were. Are we disappointed by that performance? Yes, we are,” he stated.

The manager went on to confirm that Eddie Nolan will miss the remainder of the season with an ankle injury. Ruaidhrí Fallon’s ankle injury will probably rule him out of the New York game, while it is hoped that both Brian Stack (rib injury) and Cian McKeon (ankle injury) will see championship action over the coming months.

“New York brings a lot of headaches. You have to be tuned in when you go out there because there’s plenty of hustle and bustle. We need to be focussed. But if we’re at it, hopefully we’ll get over that and be coming back here for a Connacht semi-final,” he concluded.