Roe focuses Faithfuls on winning the mind games

PAT ROE could be forgiven for feeling a sense of déjà vu as he prepares for Sunday’s trip to Croke Park.

The last time the Laois man took a team to HQ was exactly two years ago, and, just like this weekend, Dublin were the opponents in a Leinster semi-final.

Roe will be hoping his Offaly team finds itself in the same situation as Wexford did then when they led the Dubs going into the final quarter.

‘‘We went four points up that day,’’ recalls Roe. ‘‘We had scored a goal immediately on the restart and we held Dublin scoreless for 11 minutes but we didn’t score ourselves. What I remember most is the atmosphere with 80,000 people there. It was amazing.’’

Wexford started nervously before shrugging off their nerves and taking the lead but the thoughts of a first Leinster final in 50 years seemed to spook them.

They ended up losing by four points when it looked like they could win by the same margin and Roe admitted later a lack of mental resolve was their ultimate downfall.

Offaly, with their tradition of winning provincial and All-Ireland titles down the decades and an appearance in the provincial decider last year, are unlikely to look such a gift horse in the mouth if the opportunity arises on Sunday.

‘‘That’s a fair point but the caveat to that is we have had a poor league and the confidence suffered a lot with being relegated to Division Four. I have worked very hard with the lads and they have worked very hard themselves.’’

Look closer and there are other similarities between Offaly’s task this week and Wexford’s back in 2005. Both teams approached the game undercooked, with just a solitary win over Carlow as preparation.

Dublin, on the other hand, will again have two games under their belts this time and, just like two years ago, they will take to the field having sharpened their swords on Meath for the battle ahead.

‘‘The problem is we didn’t learn a lot from the first round of the championship against Carlow, particularly about how mentally strong we are,’’ Roe explained. “That will be the acid test this Sunday, how the lads cope with the day.”

Their league struggles may have left an open wound but their demotion needs to be placed in context.

Things could have been different had Longford not been awarded both points from their drawn encounter in February while Roe admits his decision not to bring the panel together before Christmas left them playing catch-up.

Poor as Carlow were in the quarter-final, Offaly showed enough to suggest it won’t be one-way traffic for Dublin this weekend and Paul Caffrey will be reminding his players of last year’s Leinster final scare.

It took Dublin 45 minutes to shake Offaly from their coattails that day and the first quarter was particularly uncomfortable with Niall McNamee and Thomas Deehan terrorising the Dublin full-back line.

What changed the game that day was Dublin’s ability to wrest control of proceedings at midfield, drying up the supply to the Offaly forward line and rerouting the flow of ball to the opposite end of the pitch.

Roe saw signs in Dublin’s defeat of Meath to suggest that his centre pairing of Alan McNamee and Niall Smith will have it all to do if a repeat is to be avoided.

“I just felt that the middle third of the field was dominated by Dublin for long periods on Sunday. Ciaran Whelan played very well and their half-back line in particular was outstanding. That’s where their biggest improvement was from the first day against Meath.”

Offaly have the players to prosper up front if they can gain parity up front, with a half-forward line designed to scavenge and a full-forward line built to score.

“We have scoring forwards in Niall McNamee, Thomas Deehan and PJ Ward. The platform for any scores is the middle third of the field so we have to be competitive there. If we don’t come up to scratch there, we’re not going to win.”