Shine lights it up for Rossies

THIS is almost surreal.

A year ago, at this very ground, Roscommon barely lasted five minutes against Mayo. They were perhaps the most pitiful team seen in the Connacht championship for half a century.

And, now, this.

Throngs of Roscommon supporters on the field. Sligo, the champions- elect, the kings-in-waiting, cast to one side. A new order alright, but not the order nine out of ten, or perhaps 99 out of 100, had anticipated.

Roscommon did a Sligo on Sligo. The hunter became the hunted. Sligo brought hunger to the bigger challenges, but were soft and shy for the final instalment. The day of coronation passed them by.

Fergie O’Donnell probed Sligo’s main fault-line. Noel McGuire’s discomfort at full-back has been well-flagged this season, and he was left to suffer in an isolation ward alongside man-of-the-match Donie Shine.

Elsewhere, they choked key men out of existence. Seanie McDermott could not have been tighter on David Kelly if the pair of them were billeted together in a one-man tent.

Eamonn O’Hara could never get a yard, Alan Costello’s influence was confined to two admittedly immense bursts at the start and near the end, and, at midfield, the clear ruler of the airways was Michael Finneran.

They went home beaming, and dedicated the victory to Dermot Earley. It was a performance that would have won Earley’s unconditional approval: founded on character, a rigid commitment to the ideal of team, and a late surge to claim the victory that was rightly theirs.

The kind of performance we expected from Sligo.

The kind of win that gladdens hearts.

Sligo only led once in the entire game — and that was for two of the first three minutes. The margin stretched to six (0-10 to 0-4) shortly before half-time.

Four points on the trot from Mark Breheny, Alan Costello (0-2), and Sean Davey brought it back to level after 63 minutes, 0-12 apiece. They were finally finding some of the rhythm that had quelled the province’s two big guns, Mayo and Galway.

Roscommon rallied. Cathal Cregg — Shine’s closest contender for the individual accolade — ran at Sligo one more time. He was fouled. Shine pointed.

Sligo came again. Costello, now living on the fringes like a three-point shooter, got a supply and he dropped it over from well beyond the 45m line.

But they were not to shake off the men who stood between them and what just over an hour earlier appeared to be their destiny. Sub Jonathan Dunning ran at Sligo. That’s what Roscommon did repeatedly: they drove at Sligo, forcing a jittery defence into fouls.

Again, Shine obliged. There was one more rally in Sligo. But Sean Davey kicked without conviction and it trailed off wide.

Eventually, referee Jim White blew the final whistle and justice was done. Roscommon deserved their win, and, harsh though it may sound, Sligo failed to deliver on the potential they had shown in the earlier three games.

In the mish-mash of a thousand incidents in an entertaining provincial decider, one warrants special mention — Gregory Claffey’s magnificent save from Kelly 14 minutes from time.

Sligo were desperately trying to shake off the shackles. They couldn’t just break free. When Kelly, for once, slipped McDermott, it looked as if the moment of liberation had arrived.

Kelly did everything right, creating half a yard to the right of the ‘keeper. Claffey somehow contorted himself to recover and save. Sligo pointed a free which accrued a few seconds later, but, as a statement of how the underdogs were not prepared to give Sligo an inch, it was quite powerful.

Four years after he lit up this venue as a minor, Shine was again the star turn yesterday. He kicked ten points, and even missed a few more that could have brought his tally to extraordinary heights.

Critically, he got the two that counted at the death. Sligo’s repeated fouling played into Roscommon’s hands, and was a measure of how discommoded they were by the greater drive and purpose of their opponents.

Five of Roscommon’s All-Ireland minor team of 2006 started yesterday — Shine, Stephen Ormsby, captain Peter Domican, and David Keenan and O’Gara. All made significant contributions, even if Shine grabbed the headlines.

This is a bitterly disappointing setback for Sligo. The game just ran and ran away from them. After 34 minutes, the scoreline was 0-10 to 0-4. Adrian Marren nicked two points before the break, but the tone of the day had already been set. They may seek to put it down as one of those days. But it has deeper implications: to be one of the big boys, they must do what the big boys do.

The big boys take care of business.

ROSCOMMON: G Claffey; S McDermott, P Domican, S Ormsby; S Purcell, C Dineen, D Casey; M Finneran, K Mannion; D Keenan, D O’Gara, C Cregg; J Rogers, D Shine, G Heneghan.

Subs used: K Higgins for Rogers (62 mins), J Dunning for O’Gara (67), P Garvey for Dineen (69).

Roscommon Scorers: Roscommon: D Shine 0-10 (0-6f, 0-1 '45'), D Casey, C Cregg, D Keenan, D O'Gara 0-1 each.

SLIGO: P Greene; C Harrison, N McGuire, R Donavan; K Cawley, B Phillips, J Davey; T Taylor, S Gilmartin; A Costello, M Breheny, E O'Hara; C McGee, A Marren, D Kelly.

Subs used: Eugene Mullen for Taylor (28 mins), K Sweeney for McGee (43), S Davey for Gilmartin (46), N Ewing for Phillips (57), S Coen for Breheny (70+1).

Sligo Scorers: A Costello 0-5, A Marren 0-3 (0-01f), M Breheny 0-2 (0-2f), C McGee (0-1 '45'), C Harrison, S Davey 0-1 each.

Referee: Jimmy White (Donegal).