Roscommon returns to a crossroads as fundamental problems resurface

After their fourth qualifying qualifier defeat against Clare two years ago, then Kevin McStay , the Roscommon manager, was honest and candid in his badessment of where the team was and where they had to go.

It was a tough championship for them, preceded by a defeat in the heavy league semi-final against Kerry in April which was the first real "revelation" to which they had been exposed

. The one-point win over New York does not seem to have them scored too much when they tied and seemed ready to win their Connacht Finals with Galway at Pearse Stadium a few months later.

But when they were opened again for three Galway goals in the rebroadcast, the walls broke down and six days later, it was far too early to recover.

McStay spoke of the need for better conditioning and superior aerobic strength. third where they had been tough throughout the season, while they were working with midfielder pairs.

Physical condition and injuries prevented them from aligning anything that looked like a prime midfield, but in a broader context. On Saturday night, there was echoes of that feeling at Croke Park as McStay found himself once again in the recovery yard, badessing what was recoverable while he was dissecting a double loss against Tyrone. that, frankly, him or someone else did not see coming.

"We really thought these days were gone, obviously they are not, we have so much more to do," he sighed again.

McStay also asked a fundamental question about the direction the team might have to take after another brutal defeat at Croke Park, 11 months after their 4-19. They had six months to think about that before playing the competition again and when he spoke at the launch of the Connacht Championship in May, coach Roscommon Ger Dowd suggested that Mayo's loss ha now, with only a turnaround of seven days last Saturday will not be so easy to put behind them but the director gave a strong indication that night that a much more aggressive line would be "

" We lost a lot of tackles, our fouling then increased dramatically and a few tackles, you know, I would be very disappointed to see how much some guys have gone for them. This is what we will require from them and see what pride we have left in ourselves. "

" We must have a shot at Donegal, we must keep the integrity of the competition as a priority. I'm sure we'll do it, we play at home, we have to give ourselves something to keep for the Dublin match. "

But beyond this weekend and the weekend of the final round, McStay is already thinking of a future track that could be taken, a track that would not be aligned with its own football principles. [19659005Roscommonisagoodattackingteamwithgenerallyaccurateattackersbuttheycannotkeepmakingthetaskaseasyfortheopponents

Do their fans want this game plan to be implemented? what the current leadership wants to oversee such a change?

Questions for another day.Roscommon is the county of the "Super 8" that the rest of the pack will follow with the most interest as the most comparable guide for themselves, even more than Kildare, because of their vulnerability many other counties of some standard identify with b because they see there something of themselves. [19659005] Dublin, Kerry, Tyrone, Monaghan, Donegal and lastly Galway have all been regular quarter-finals in recent years and, with the exception of Galway, experienced Division 1 teams. Next-level teams are wondering what a Super 8 experience will look like in the future. , the experience of Roscommon is what they will align closely.

For Donegal, the pressures are different. They won an Ulster title in a relative gallop but there is a feeling that all the provincial chips won in the previous two months are all bet on Hyde Park now.

To lose, suggested former All-Ireland forward Manus Boyle, would "undo all the good work of the Ulster Championship." Boyle believes that Donegal was a little cooked against Dublin last week because of the nature of Ulster's victory.

"When Tyrone and Monaghan came out of the Ulster Championship, they probably lost the advantage".

"These three teams would be a little ahead of everyone and that probably did not help Donegal to not have a single major opposition, they needed a big test to see where they They probably did not hurt too much, the fact that Paddy McBrearty did not play, but I do not think Dublin played well either, not up to their standards. not leaving third gear, "he suggested.

The" Where to Play Michael Murphy "debate reopened after last Saturday, but Boyle believes that Captain Donegal is playing a leading role in the middle and Declan Bonner We need to continue to develop the team around this pillar

"The way we play football, we make a lot of pbades and the ball is too slow to enter. People like Murphy should do three or four races before he does it. "Change ball," Boyle said. "(Change now) could change the way we play football that keeps the ball, keeping possession." 19659005 "We had Tony Boyle with Declan and me and there were days when we needed fur coats, the ball was so slow to come in. I think it comes from us playing so much football in the wind. I played Killybegs all my life and if we had two points five minutes from the end, I'm just going to keep the ball, it's just inherent to the way we play in this county.

"Yes, Murphy and Colm McFadden were great in 2012 on the inside and with McBrearty there is an argument to restore Michael. But his game has evolved it's crucial in the middle, especially if you have McBrearty on the inside. "

Boyle sees a reaction from Roscommon but expects Donegal to keep his lead knowing that defeat will end their accumulated interest against Roscommon last weekend.

" They will not complacent, they are good, healthy, not the crazy hats we were, "he laughed." They think they can come down and do a job. They do not do that anymore. "

Irish Independent