Two out of three ain’t bad for Sligo’s Donovan

Ross Donovan admits one Connacht title from three final appearances in the last six seasons doesn’t bear thinking about.

Now in his seventh season in the Sligo panel, he has a 2007 provincial medal to his name but wants to make amends against Mayo for the 2010 disappointment against Roscommon.

“Great Sligo players from the past would not have had that opportunity so if I was told back then [when I started], I might have shrugged my shoulders and laughed.

“But it has been great, this is my third one. But if we don’t win it will be one out of three, which will not be good enough at all.”

Donovan believes having David Kelly fit again has made the difference from what was a forgettable 2011 season when they went out of both championships at an early stage.

“Definitely, you need the likes of David Kelly because he is worth a few scores every day, you want him on the pitch.

“Last year he had a bad run of luck and it just did not work out for him, but he is back this year and he is like a little bunny going around the field.

“So we are delighted to have him back and the other lads that were injured, Johnny Davey and Eamon O’Hara, who are available to pick from.”

Meanwhile, Roscommon’s Donie Shine admits his county have to convince themselves that they weren’t as bad as their defeat to Galway made them out to be.

Des Newton’s side recovered in time to beat Armagh in their first round qualifier but Shine, who felt he played poorly in their Connacht opener, and his team-mates had to realise they were better than that 14-point reverse.

“I was disappointed enough. At the time it was one of those things that seemed twice as bad as it actually was,” he said.

“We knew we weren’t that bad a team and everything just looked a lot worse. We came back with a good performance against Armagh. That was a tough draw to get in the first round and it was brilliant to get over it after the disappointment of the Galway game.”

Shine knew Roscommon had turned the corner when they responded well to Armagh’s early goal — unlike their reaction to Galway’s.

“For the first 10 minutes [v Armagh], it was touch and go and then Jamie Clarke got the goal. It was good that lads responded well to that and everybody seemed to pull together and we fought hard and got stuck in.

“We then got a goal ourselves and got back in the game. The same thing happened against Galway but they just continued to push on and we never got a grip on it at all.

“Being five points down at half time, it was a good result after what happened against Galway.”

Shine is going out to reach the third round of the qualifiers but what he’s striving for is an improvement on last year’s display.

“If we win this weekend it will lift the county. But the main thing is we put in good performance and stay competitive.

“They ran away with it last year but hopefully we can get it a bit narrower than that and put up a good fight.”