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You are > Home > Poor display from Roscommon
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Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Poor display from Roscommon
The sun shone in Tullamore on Sunday on a day that seemed to be borrowed from June.
There was a slight chill in the air in the stand but conditions were perfect in O’Connor Park.
Sadly, the sun didn’t shine for Roscommon supporters as the team suffered a third defeat in the current league.
In truth, it was a poor Roscommon display despite the narrow margin of defeat at the end.
This was a poor game between two poor teams. It was riddled with basic mistakes and unforced errors.
Roscommon were the main culprits in this regard.
All the old mistakes came back with a vengeance.
I lost count of the number of times Roscommon players gave possession away.
Passing was sloppy at times and on a few occasions frees were kicked straight to unmarked Offaly players.
Don’t talk about the breaking ball!
Once again, Roscommon’s weakness in reading the breaks was in evidence all over the field.
Offaly players gratefully hoovered up the breaking ball in every sector.
In the second-half Offaly had two players marking Donie Shine under the dropping ball.
It was obvious that there would be breaks, but on every occasion the Offaly backs came away with the ball.
Forwards should be alert to the breaks but not our forwards.
It was a strange game in many ways.
Roscommon started badly and Offaly, aided by the fresh breeze, had three points on the scoreboard in the opening eight minutes.
The Roscommon backs were all over the place as the Offaly forwards were out in front to win every ball.
Roscommon, thanks to the accuracy of Donie Shine, kept in touch but were rocked when Offaly were awarded a penalty.
Offaly’s veteran Ciaran McManus was fouled as he bore down on goals and Niall McNamee gave Geoffrey Claffey no chance from the penalty.
Things looked bad for Roscommon at this stage but a John Rogers goal brought them back into the game.
Offaly led by 1-7 to 11 after 14 minutes.
Offaly continued to dominate but I felt if we could hold them to three points at the break we would have a chance with the aid of the wind in the second-half.
Roscommon played much better in the second quarter and had actually whittled Offaly’s lead to a single point with three minutes to go before the break.
Then disaster struck in a period of three minutes that I believe was the winning and losing of this game.
With Offaly leading by 1-9 to 1-8, a high ball dropped in the Roscommon goalmouth.
Two backs contested the ball with an Offaly forward. The ball broke, and Offaly full-forward John Reynolds gathered the break and buried the ball in the back of the net.
It was the worst possible time to concede a goal.
The Faithfuls added two further points to go in at half-time leading by 2-11 to 1-8.
A deficit of a single point turned into a six points deficit in the space of a few minutes.
Offaly opened the secondhalf strongly and stretched the lead to eight points.
The home team placed a sweeper behind the half-back line and he mopped up loads of possession. Invariably deliveries out of the Roscommon defence ended up in his grateful hands.
Offaly outscored the losers by 0-3 to 0-1 in the opening 20 minutes but Offaly were not to score from there to the end.
The prospect of a hammering like the Cavan match looked very much a possibility as Offaly dominated all over the field.
Things seemed to be getting worse and worse for Roscommon as Offaly led by 2-14 to 1-10 with ten minutes remaining.
By this time Donie Shine had moved to midfield and Cathal Cregg had switched to full-forward.
Roscommon started to play their best football but it seemed too little too late.
Then Cathal Cregg rattled home a goal after he interrupted a stray pass and the Offaly lead was reduced to four points.
Three further points from John Rogers, Enda Kenny and David O’Gara had Offaly fighting for survival.
Sadly Roscommmon ran out of time and Offaly held on to win by the narrowest of margins, 2-14 to 2-13.
If only Cathal Cregg’s goal had come a few minutes earlier I believe Roscommon would have won. In fairness though, they hardly deserved to win this game after the way they played for most of the game.
Deserved Win
Without doubt Offaly deserved to win this game.
Their back-up play was far superior to Roscommon’s.
There was always a player coming off the shoulder of the man in possession to take the ball from him.
Their forwards took some great scores from various distances and angles.
In Niall McNamee they have one of the best forwards in the game. John Reynolds at full-forward caused endless problems for Roscommon.
Many of the Roscommon backs will like to forget this game in a hurry.
Stephen Ormsby was one of the few defenders to emerge with his reputation in tact. He had a great second-half in particular.
I felt that if the Roscommon forwards got the fast ball in they would have yielded more scores.
The Offaly full-back line didn’t look all that steady and Roscommon could have had two more goals in the first-half if the wrong option wasn’t taken on each occasion.
Donie Shine was once again Roscommon’s star forward, while John Rogers and David O’Gara tried hard.
James Connaughton took his points well and deserves further consideration. Offaly dominated midfield where neither Michael Finneran nor Mark O’Carroll could repeat their displays against Fermanagh.
Kevin Higgins came on in the second-half and Mark O’Carroll moved back to wing-half back.
The forwards did reasonably well considering that the supply of ball wasn’t all that good at times.
I feel that the forwards need to work harder and make themselves available for the player in possession.
On a few occasions players taking frees out of the hand had no one showing for the ball.
A few frees either went to an Offaly player or went out over the sideline.
The difficulty some players had with the basics of the game was alarming at times. It shouldn’t be too much to ask a player to find a colleague with a pass or with a free.
It is hard to take any positives from this game.
Still if I had been told before the game that Roscommon would score 2-13, I would be confident of a win.
It was the biggest losing score in Division Three, and the second highest in all four divisions.
But then 2-14 was the biggest winning score in Division Three.
Six goals have been conceded in three games and that isn’t good.
The backs looked very shaky particularly in the first quarter.
Time and again they were standing off their opponents and the Offaly forwards won possession far too easily.
It is hard for Roscommon to do well without experienced players like Seamus O’Neill, Karol Mannion, Senan Kilbride and Gary Cox.
Seamus O’Neill is a huge loss at midfield. His physical presence is badly missed.
It was good to see David Casey coming on and he played well but he is far from match fitness.
David never lets the side down and his return is to be welcomed.
What Now?
It is hard to see Roscommon avoiding the drop to Division Four after this defeat.
The last four games must be won if there is to be any hope of surviving in Division Three.
Next Sunday table toppers Antrim come to Hyde Park and it will take a mighty effort from the Rossies to take the points in this one. Antrim have a very fast team and their forwards put moves together at lightning speed.
That does not bode well for the Roscommon backs who aren’t exactly gifted with speed. I have a feeling that Roscommon could produce a winning display on Sunday and cause an upset.
The last two games have been lost by a single point, so the luck might change on Sunday with Roscommon on the right side of the final score.
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