‘Things are working for us here’: Rossies' recipe for conquering Connacht

Roscommon’s Caelim Keogh and Patrick Gavin Celebrate at the final whistle. Pic: James Crombie/Inpho

Vindication. A stunning triumph in King & Moffatt Dr Hyde Park saw Roscommon secure the Nestor Cup to complete a clean sweep of Connacht minor, U20 and senior titles.

For Mark Dowd, Sunday’s win over Galway was another testament to the work they have done since taking over last November.

“I suppose it backs up what we've been trying to do all year, since the early days when we gathered a panel and started putting plans in place,” he said post-match.

“We wanted a physical team that was able to compete with the top teams there. We showed that today, that we could.

“It gave us that belief. We wanted it that we were going down the home straight in games and that we're still going to be in it. We showed that today. 

"That game could have ended up on the losing side of it as well, but it showed massive composure from the lads I felt there in those last 10 minutes. They just kept their wits about them, they took it play by play and we got our scores there towards the end just to get over the line.” 

The new generation powered them home. They were led by Man of the Match Darragh Heneghan who scored 2-2. It was an awesome display of pace and punch. 

Galway tried different markers, Jack Glynn and Dylan McHugh, but couldn’t contain him. 

“In fairness to Darragh, that's him. He came back from struggling with a hamstring injury from earlier on in the year, got himself back into great contention there as well.

“As did others like Ruaidhrí Fallon came on the pitch today, we had Stacky togged out today which was brilliant. Another two weeks on for him has put him in contention. It is brilliant to see.” 

A gem like Heneghan is what has them where they are. Despite some impressive club displays and a Sigerson Cup run with UL, he was not called in under previous management. 

Dowd knew the talent that was in the county and made the most of it.

“I'm delighted just for the bunch of lads,” he said.

“The amount of work they've put in. We probably haven't seen enough of it these days in Roscommon and hopefully, you saw it there last week with the under-17s, under-20s, things are working for us here at the moment. It's the people that are in there, the players that are in there.

“Everyone is putting their shoulder to the wheel and that's brilliant.”