No place to Hyde in the last chance saloon for Roscommon and Donegal

By Alan Foley

While all three of the other Super 8 fixtures this weekend feature sides who possess ambitions of putting eight or nine toes into an All-Ireland semi-final, at Hyde Park the combatants aren’t thinking that far ahead as they’re fighting for their Championship lives.

Roscommon and Donegal are sipping at the last chance saloon.

Roscommon folded last Saturday evening against Tyrone at Croke Park in a 4-24 to 2-12 loss as the curtain-raiser to Donegal’s 2-15 to 0-16 reversal at Dublin’s hands.

And while it’s possible, although improbable if you scour the mathematical complexities, to reach the last four with two points, it’s not beyond the realms of feasibility for a team to have to pack their bags for home with four.

With score difference likely to become a key determinant, even at this early stage it seems as though Donegal’s best chance would be to get out of Roscommon with any sort of win and hope Dublin can get over the line in Omagh immediately afterwards.

Roscommon, with a woeful points difference and already behind Tyrone on the head-to-head, look doomed. They face a trip to Croke Park to take on the All-Ireland champions in their third outing.

A deflated Kevin McStay’s comments were starkly realistic when he spoke in the bowels of Croke Park this day last week. Some sort of pride restoration might be the sum total of their ambitions. Sean McDermott and Brian Stack have been named instead of Niall Daly and Donie Smith.

“We weren’t at it,” McStay said of the 18-point reversal against Tyrone.

“Thankfully, there is a game next week. But all we’re playing for now is pride at this stage because the scoring difference is badly damaged.

“But we’re at home, and we’ve a week to think about life. I’d expect us to react some way, and that’s all we can live for this week.”

“The integrity of the group is at stake here; our development and, most of all, our own pride is going to be at stake.”

Hyde Park hasn’t been a fortress, with only four Roscommon wins from nine in the last two seasons, including a 0-16 to 2-9 Division 1 loss against Donegal last year.

Donegal, on the other hand, will see any sort of victory this afternoon as something that will at least give them a fighting chance when Tyrone make the short journey across the border to Ballybofey on August 5 Bank Holiday Sunday.

The Ulster champions would certainly have noticed the way Roscommon were in contention against Tyrone last week — just four points down at one stage in the third quarter — before their sails were slashed.

Their five-point loss against Jim Gavin’s team was peculiar in ways. Seconds before Niall Scully’s opening goal for Dublin, Donegal’s Jamie Brennan — manfully filling in for long-term cruciate injury victim Patrick McBrearty — blazed a goal chance wide and into Hill 16. That said, although Donegal played well in patches, the common consensus was that Dublin always had a gear or two left in them.

While Dublin had the likes of Kevin McManaman and Paul Flynn coming on as second-half substitutes, Donegal featured seven players — Shaun Patton, Stephen McMenamin, Paul Brennan, Jamie Brennan, Michael Langan, Cian Mulligan, and Daire Ó Baoill — who had never played senior Championship football at Croke Park before.

Paddy McGrath shipped a knock to Scully and didn’t appear in the second half, but is expected to be available for Roscommon. The only definite absentee is a huge one: McBrearty.

“We have to improve on things that we wouldn’t have been happy with last weekend,” said manager Declan Bonner this week. “Hyde Park is not an easy place to go. Roscommon’s match with Tyrone last week will have no great bearing. It might’ve dented their confidence a bit but a lot can change in a week. They need to win the match and they have home advantage, which is huge.

“The games are coming thick and fast and that’s why that sort of conditioning is so important. They’re ready to play week in, week out. We feel the team is in a good place and we feel we can show more. We have a lot of work going on and we’re ready to go.”

Last chance saloon — there’s nowhere to hide at the Hyde.