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You are > Home > Euphoria sweeps through county
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Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Euphoria sweeps through county
I have been in Waterford on holidays for the past ten days.
As a result I missed the euphoria that has swept through the county since the fantastic win in Castlebar. I got something of the flavour of Waterford’s celebration after their victory over Cork, but it is not the same when it isn’t your own county.
Besides, Waterford’s Munster final win wasn’t altogether unexpected while few gave Roscommon a chance of beating Sligo.
I must repeat something that I wrote in this column a few months ago. Before a ball was kicked in the Connacht championship, Seán Bán Breathnach of Radio na Ghaeltachta fame told me that Roscommon would win the Connacht championship this year.
I thought he was just being nice, or that it was just a bit of Seán Bán plamás but he insisted that he was serious.
My postman Eddie Nestor was the only other man who predicted that Roscommon would win the Connacht title before ever a ball was kicked in the championship. I missed the Connacht final in Castlebar.
The only other time I missed a Roscommon Connacht final was in 1978 when I was in the United States.
I watched the final live on TV3.
It was an unusual experience watching Roscommon on the television and I not present to shout them on. The host Matt Cooper and his studio panel of Eugene McGee, Senan Connell and Peter Canavan were positive enough towards Roscommon.
All three, particularly Eugene McGee, warned about the inherent danger of Sligo carrying the burden of raging hot favourites.
As the Longford man said, “it’s very difficult to prepare a team as favourites. You can’t stop public opinion. From the church to the pub to the cattle mart, everyone will have been talking about the match, and the players are all mixing with that.
Euphoria may have taken over Sligo. Kevin Walsh doesn’t live in Sligo, but I hope he’s aware of it because he will need to be.”
I was in Sligo last week and the feeling I got from Sligo supporters was that it was only a matter of turning up to collect the Nestor Cup.
I had seen Sligo fall into that trap before, particularly against Roscommon at minor and U-21 level. I mentioned last week that Sligo had already peaked four times this year and it is very hard to maintain that level of consistency.
The three games against Mayo and Galway may have taken more out of the players than they had thought.
Then they may have read too much into the defeat of Mayo and Galway. After all, Longford beat Mayo in the qualifiers and Wexford beat Galway.
Neither Longford or Wexford would be regarded as world beaters. They were both easily beaten in the next round.
Sligo saw it as a great achievement and rightly so.
They did a good turn for Roscommon by knocking out two teams that would very likely have accounted for us in a final. Meanwhile, Roscommon were waiting in the long grass and nobody had cut the grass.
It was cruel luck on Sligo to fall at the last hurdle after knocking out the big two.
The defeat in the final obviously left psychological scars that weren’t healed before the Down game. There is no way that Down are 17 points a better team than Sligo, but obviously Sligo didn’t do themselves justice on Saturday night.
I know that their supporters are very disappointed but their day in the sun will come. They will have to learn not to underestimate the opposition.
Pat Spillane summed up the Connacht final when he said that “Roscommon played as a team that wanted to win, Sligo played like a team that expected to win.”
Highlights
The advantage of watching a game live on television is that you can see incidents over and over again as they are played back.
There were many highlights for me in this Roscommon display. Donie Shine’s accuracy from frees was an obvious one, but he hit over three superb points from play as well. His left footed kick from out on the right wing in the second-half was a gem.
The spectacular fielding of Michael Finneran was another highlight.
There is nothing to beat the skill of the high catch taken at full stretch and the St. Dominic’s man really gave an exhibition in this department in Castlebar. It brought me back to the days of George Geraghty, the late Dermot Earley and more recently John Newton.
I was not surprised that Michael was chosen on the Team of the Week. Seánie McDermott, David Casey, Cathal Cregg and Donie Shine also made that team.
The fact that Roscommon won the lion’s share of the breaks in the first-half was particularly pleasing to me. Readers of this column will be aware of the importance I attach to picking up the breaking ball.
Winning primary possession is obviously the first priority, but when possession is spilled it is important to hoover up the breaking ball.
Cathal Cregg excelled in this area in Castlebar. He really had an outstanding game.
This year’s Connacht final has been regarded as one of the best in years and the best of the four provincial finals.
This Roscommon team is a work in progress and I didn’t expect a Connacht title for another two or three years at least. It is always welcome when it comes, particularly when it is not expected.
Roscommon may not be ready to rub shoulders with the Kerrys, Corks and Tyrones just yet but this title is bound to be a major boost to the game in the county. When Mike Finnerty said “it is all over” on TV3 there seemed to be a moment of stunned silence.
It seemed as if the crowd was frozen in disbelief. Then there was an explosion of colour as Roscommon fans poured from the stands into the pitch turning McHale Park into a primrose garden.
The scenes of unbridled joy showed just how much football means to Roscommon people.
Up to last Sunday week only Paddy Joe Burke and a few other fanatics had the primrose and blue flags flowing outside their houses. Now there are flags all over the county.
This Connacht title has put a smile back on the face of Roscommon football. It is a far cry from the hammering in Castlebar last year at the hands of Mayo and the defeats in this year’s league.
There are some serious young footballers in the county who will be joining this team in the near future. At least there is a silver lining and there are brighter days ahead.
Castlebar Record
I wonder did Sligo err in opting to play the game in Castlebar? Roscommon have a good record in finals at the venue, losing only two in 1992 and 2004.
Ironically, if Sligo had come to Hyde Park they might have won the game.
They wouldn’t have been such raging hot favourites and they might have treated Roscommon with greater respect. Sligo beat Roscommon in Hyde Park in 1971 and 2007.
It wasn’t the first time that Roscommon pulled off a shock result in McHale Park. Mayo were All-Ireland champions in 1950 and ‘51 and were unbackable favourites to beat Roscommon in the 1952 final in Castlebar. Roscommon tore up the script by beating the All-Ireland champions by seven points, 3-4 to 0-6.
There was a national paper strike at the time and many people around the country thought that Radio Éireann had made a mistake when the result was given out that evening.
The switch board was hopping with phone calls from people who couldn’t believe that Roscommon had won.
Again in 1972, few gave Roscommon a chance of beating Mayo in the Connacht final. Once again Roscommon shocked the GAA public by beating Mayo by 5-8 to 3-10.
That game was also played in McHale Park. Incidentally, the only other time a Roscommon team scored 58 in the championship was in 1944 when they beat Cavan by 5-8 to 1-3 in the All-Ireland semi-final.
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