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You are > Home > Nothing to fear in Croker
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Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Nothing to fear in Croker
Croke Park it has a unique allure befitting possibly the most evocative name in all of Irish sport.
Every sport has an arena where greatness is earned and reputations are made and broken in the GAA Croke Park is that place.
If you can make it there then your right to a place in the folklore of the game is assured, not just in the annals but in the hearts and minds of the people for generations to come.
The record of the Rossies in Jones’ Road in the Noughties provides a source of encouragement ahead of next weekend.
Roscommon football teams made six appearances there in the last decade and the record read: two wins, three defeats and one draw. On the August Bank Holiday weekend last year Gary Wynne’s minors, who included Cathal Shine, lost to Kerry after a thrilling and high-scoring All-Ireland quarter-final which went to extra-time.
It provided a sense of symmetry with the Roscommon seniors’ first appearance of the decade in Croke Park also an AllIreland quarter-final against Kerry.
It was a peculiar match, not least because of the high score which saw Kerry win by 1-21 to 3-10.
At the three-quarter stage Kerry were cantering but a barnstorming Roscommon rally, which included a Karol Mannion goal, had the Kingdom nervously clutching to victory.
The Frankie Dolan inspired march through the qualifiers electrified the county and an estimated 15,000 Roscommon fans invaded Dublin 3.
The team didn’t let the fans down but there was a curious, unspoken sense that Roscommon had let slip a chance of a famous victory.
Declan O’Sullivan, in particular, ran riot in the early stages. Roscommon were hit by stage-fright and realised too late that Kerry were ordinary that year, as underlined by their heavy defeat to Tyrone in the infamous “puke football” semi final.
Roscommon were back in Croke Park the following year but with less than half the support. Instead of another enthralling qualifier run Roscommon came into the game on the back of a drubbing by Mayo in the Connacht final. In different circumstances the Rossies would have fancied their chances against a brittle Dublin team still in shock from losing to Westmeath in the Leinster championship.
As it was they lost 1-14 to 0-13 with Jason Sherlock netting Dublin’s sole goal chance and Roscommon spurning four goal chances of their own.
David Casey excelled at centre-back, as did Stephen Lohan, but the abiding memory is of an exquisite point from a free under the Cusack Stand by Ger Heneghan.
The last appearance of a Roscommon senior team in Croke Park was a polished 2-12 to 0-13 win over Cavan in a Division Two semi-final on April 21st, 2007.
The match was played under floodlights on a Saturday evening and was probably the highlight of the John Maughan era.
However, it is two matches from 2006 which have most resonance. In the AllIreland semi-final Roscommon minors gave a performance of poise and panache to beat Meath by 1-10 to 0-9.
That day, August 27th, was a memorable one for Connacht football as Leitrim played in the Tommy Murphy Cup Final and Mayo staged a memorable fightback to beat Dublin by one point in a riveting senior semi-final.
The winning point by Ciaran McDonald represented the high-water mark of his genius.
While there would be no ultimate glory for Mayo, Roscommon and Kerry provided a minor final of virtuosity and verve. The rising roar of joy and relief that greeted David O’Gara’s last gasp equalising point was one of the special moments of that cherished campaign.
The relevance to next weekend is provided by the presence, astonishingly, of ten members of that minor team on the 30 players named in the programme for the Connacht final.
James McKeague is also a member of the panel. It is a remarkable return from an underage team and means that a Roscommon senior team head into an All-Ireland quarter-final with players who have revelled in playing in Croke Park.
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