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You are > Home > New season up and running
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Wednesday, January 20, 2010
New season up and running
Roscommon endured a disappointing start to the FBD League when they went down to Sligo IT by a single point in Ballinode on Sunday last.
I didn’t get to Sligo so I relied on Willie Hegarty’s updates on the radio to keep in touch with the game.
It was a low scoring game and Roscommon’s total of 1-6 was a poor return for an hour’s football.
In fact the team went 26 minutes without scoring at one stage of the game. Senan Kilbride probably made history by being the first player to score a penalty under the new rules.
Stephen Coen scored a goal from a penalty for Sligo IT. a few minutes later.
I got the impression from Willie’s comments that it was a poor game.
He seemed to be impressed with the display of Michael Killilea at full-back until he got injured.
Full-back is one of the problem positions on the team and it would be a great boost if we could get a reliable number 3 in time for the league.
It is good that Mark O’Carroll and Ger Heneghan are back on the team.
The experience of both players is needed for the league.
Many of Roscommon’s young players are playing with college teams in the FBD League and various other competitions.
This makes it difficult for the team management to field a settled team at this stage.
I was disappointed to lose but it is better to lose now than later on in the league.
It is early days yet and this result will matter little as the spring and summer rolls on.
The county U-21 team had better luck on Saturday by scoring a two-point victory over Longford in Michael Fay Park, Longford.
Longford had a few seniors in action and have high hopes for their U-21 team this year. I hope it is the start of a successful year for Roscommon in this grade this year.
Elsewhere it was good to see that Donal Shine played a major role in DCU’s victory over Westmeath in the O’Byrne Cup.
Donal played at full-forward and was flanked by Seánie Johnston of Cavan and Sligo’s David Kelly. That is a formidable full-forward line in any company.
Donal scored three points, two of them from frees and by all accounts gave the Westmeath full-back a torrid time.
Peter Domican, Conor Devaney and David O’Gara played on the NUIG team that were defeated by Mayo.
O’Byrne Cup
The Dublin v Wexford game in Parnell Park was televised live by TG4 on Sunday.
It was a disappointing game that was riddled with errors.
I was looking forward to see how the ‘mark’ would work out but there were very few marks for the simple reason that there was very little clean fielding in the middle of the field.
I can only recall a few marks and, if anything, they slowed up the play.
Dublin scored two goals from two second-half penalties.
The new penalty from 11 metres gives the goalkeeper very little chance and I doubt if any penalty was saved on Sunday.
Defenders will have to be more careful that they don’t foul because the concession of a penalty now means an almost certain goal.
It took players a while to adjust to the new fisted pass.
It didn’t seem to make much difference one way or another, because I felt there was far too much use of the fisted pass anyway.
I counted as many as seven or eight passes with the fist without the ball moving any further that 15 yards.
The jury is still out on the new rules but it is early days yet and it will take a few games for players and spectators to adjust to them.
Michael Fayne, RIP
St. Brigid’s Club was bereaved by the death last Tuesday of Michael Fayne.
Indeed the GAA in the county is the poorer for his passing. His untimely death at a relatively young age has deprived a family, a club and county of an exemplary gentleman whose life long concern was for the benefit and enhancement of others.
I was shocked and stunned when I heard the sad news because I hadn’t realised that Michael had been so ill. If ever a man was the heartbeat of a club it was Michael. He loved St. Brigid’s and many of the club’s achievements are due to his dedicated contribution to its development.
Michael held many positions in the club, including chairman, secretary and PRO. He was one of the brains behind the development of the magnificent facilities at the club’s grounds and he was very proud of them.
Actions speak louder than words. The English essayist and statesman Francis Bacon in his essay ‘The Advancement of Learning’ wrote “in the theatre of man’s life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers-on.”
Michael Fayne wasn’t a looker-on, he was a doer. I had the privilege of working with Michael on the production of the County Board GAA Yearbook in 2006.
I remember we both left Athlone at an unearthly hour one October morning to drive to Arklow where the publication was compiled and edited.
It was a long journey but no journey was long when you were in Michael’s company.
We spent the day in the printers compiling the pages and articles for the yearbook. It was a labour of love for Michael.
He was a mine of information on GAA affairs. Anything he didn’t know about the history of St. Brigid’s wasn’t worth knowing. Indeed he wrote a history of the club and no one was better qualified to write it.
Few did more than Michael himself to influence and shape that history.
He loved to compile GAA programmes and his productions for St. Brigid’s home games in the Connacht club championships were a credit to him.
He was a perfectionist in ways, and I remember how upset he was on one occasion when the printers got the Irish version of Corofin (Galway) wrong for the cover of one programme.
Only the best was good enough, and Michael always believed that an important game merited a professionally produced match programme.
Michael will certainly be missed by St. Brigid’s.
His popularity in the club was reflected in the huge crowd that attended his funeral on Friday.
Past and present players as well as club officials formed a guard of honour outside the church when his remains were carried in.
Young and old gathered to pay tribute to a man who was everybody’s friend and who had left an indelible mark on the story of St. Brigid’s club.
Gerry O’Malley and players from the great teams of the 1950s mingled in the congregation with players from the history making U21 teams of recent times. Michael spanned time, he related to players and officials of all ages and eras.
My colleague Fr. John Cullen in his homily paid tribute to Michael for his wonderful work in the parish and in the diocese. He was a regular on the Diocesan Pilgrimages to Lourdes. His influence extended beyond the GAA as Michael was involved in many apostolic organisations in the parish.
In his spare time, whenever he had any, he was a very skilled wood turner and many of his pieces of carved bog oak and elm adorn sideboards throughout South Roscommon. Fr. Cullen referred to his great interest in statistics.
He recalled how Michael once told him that the great Offaly star, Matt Connor, played 161 games for Offaly and he scored a total of 82 goals and 660 points.
He wished that we had such a prolific forward in Roscommon.
Michael Fayne was one of nature’s gentlemen. I always found him helpful and obliging when I was Roscommon County Board PRO.
I feel, like many readers I am sure, that I have lost a good friend. The sympathies of this column are extended to Michael’s wife Annette, daughter Joanne, and sons Brendan and Ciarán. May he rest in peace.
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