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Rossies on road to redemption

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Of all the misfits, they were first to be flung unmercifully on to the scrapheap of the qualifiers.

By Ewan MacKenna
They’d to wait a day over four weeks before they even knew who they’d be playing in the first round. By tomorrow’s throw-in, it’ll be half an hour over six weeks since they started a competitive game despite this being high summer.

It’s little wonder then that Roscommon have lost David O’Gara and David Keenan in that gaping chasm of time as they headed for America. Kevin Higgins and Conor Devaney wandered from the panel too as this isn’t a climate to hang around in, with no tangible reward to be gained.

In its own spiteful way, the economy has added to the pace at which the qualifiers have become outdated. They served their purpose but while we are clinging to an environment where a Wicklow 2009-style run may still occur, the days of a side like Fermanagh in 2004 shooting across a blue summer sky like a bottle rocket are long gone. The best have become too strong and too ruthless, and many playing for the rest don’t see the point in waiting an age in a country on its knees, just to get on a footballing road to nowhere.

But then there’s the likes of Peter Domican. Two years ago, as Roscommon captain, he was lifting the Nestor Cup but while he now inhabits a different world, he’s still seeing the bright side of life.

“I don’t think the guys that are still on the panel see it as a nuisance to have to wait that long for a qualifier. We’re glad it’s there and it’s given us the chance to redeem ourselves. It’s a long wait alright, but others have had similar situations.

“Mayo finally got to play a championship game last Sunday and it’s not like we didn’t know the situation. We knew exactly where we’d stand if we didn’t beat Galway. Obviously losing the guys came as a shock but there were various reasons for that, and some guys don’t have jobs and they won’t or can’t hang about. But the flipside is, when they went, we had time to adjust.”

Others in the county take a different view and won’t be told the qualifiers are a genuine alternative route to the provincial championship, especially on a weekend where interest is leaning towards the minor match against Galway today as opposed to the senior match against Armagh tomorrow.

“But it’s a chance for redemption,” argues Domican. “Really, we’d hate to leave it at that performance against Galway and just let it all peter out.

“We had so much to work on, the break has given us that time. We took a week off to clear the heads and then got back into hard training. We’ve played challenge matches and while we didn’t know who we’d be playing for a long time, we needed to look at ourselves more than anything.

“Armagh is one of the harder draws, but you need to beat these teams and we’ve been to the last eight and just want to improve each year. Some will wonder what it’s like waiting, but we are glad to have had something to wait for.”

However, the length of their break and the handful of desertions have fuelled rumours about Des Newton’s managerial capabilities, especially with embarrassment over the performance against Galway still lingering thick and poisonous in the air. The extent of the in-house problems depend on whether you believe there can be smoke without fire as the players, unlike their predecessors in the county, are experts at boycotting controversy.

What’s unavoidable though are the tactical mistakes made last time. Michael Finneran’s loss was no more than a nick compared to the wide wound the gameplan opened up. Yet word has it, Newton is again set to drop his wing-forwards deep, something Galway capitalised on as Gareth Bradshaw in particular got forward repeatedly.

Yet whatever about their own issues, it doesn’t help either that their opponents here showed the sort of hunger and intensity not seen since 2008, as Armagh fought Tyrone all the way to the final bell. It’s just another reason that suggests Roscommon will once more be flung away. But should that happen, this time they won’t have to play the longest of waiting games.

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