Great performance from Roscommon yesterday, some of their shooting was unreal. Great to see another young team pulling up a chair at the top table.

As to the game itself it was a very entertaining 70 minutes without any of the intensity of the previous week. Donegal were very flat in the first half, played better in the second but for the second week in a row were opened up down the middle for a goal just when they seemed to be getting an edge.

Good to see Lacey & Christy Toye & Mark McHugh getting game tie, all three looked good. The form of Odhran McNiallais has dipped alarmingly in the past two weeks though, temporary I hope.

Two big games to finish with, onwards & upwards.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 14/03/2016 18:04:15    1834810

Way to go Ping... don't mind them!

I expect the Rossies will be charitable to neighbours on the way down, and wheel out the young, the old, and the lame for our visit to the Hyde in a couple of weeks time... keep the A-listers fit for the Dubs visit!

Pericles (Mayo) - Posts: 2521 - 14/03/2016 18:12:40    1834815

From next year there will be no semifinals. Just the top two going through to the final.

OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 20/03/2016 12:22:01    1836071

Proper order too, Ollie, in my opinion.

Dubsfan28 (Dublin) - Posts: 2509 - 20/03/2016 12:58:55    1836073

I expect the Rossies will be charitable to neighbours on the way down, and wheel out the young, the old, and the lame for our visit to the Hyde in a couple of weeks time... keep the A-listers fit for the Dubs visit!

Pericles (Mayo) - Posts:1333 - 14/03/2016 18:12:40 1834815

Ah ye have a special place in our heart's perci.
We won't bother with the young though we will keep them for the following Saturday..
I'm sure we will try and field a team of some sort.

OhtobeARossie (Roscommon) - Posts: 1764 - 20/03/2016 14:53:40    1836095

Roscommon will be flat come the championship Their manager has said
their goal for this year is to keep their Div 1 status and the reason they are
beating the top teams they are away ahead of the pack as far as fitness is
concerened when the championship starts the Rossies will have an empty tank

wfkerry (USA) - Posts: 933 - 20/03/2016 14:58:52    1836096

Roscommon will be flat come the championship Their manager has said
their goal for this year is to keep their Div 1 status and the reason they are
beating the top teams they are away ahead of the pack as far as fitness is
concerened when the championship starts the Rossies will have an empty tank

wfkerry (USA) - Posts:802 - 20/03/2016 14:58:52

-----------------
One of our targets for the year was staying in Div one, the other target was reaching the Connacht final and giving Mayo or Galway a competitive game in the final. Ahead of the pack in fitness is a bit of myth really and great tag line for those that don't want to give us credit. We were fit last year but that alone would would not have beaten the top teams in Div one. What has improved the most with this year has been our game plan and system of play.

For the record and from my inside source involved with the panel, our championship training (a big step up from what has been done so far) doesn't start until April and we also have dozen players to come back from injury yet.

ispeakwisdom (Roscommon) - Posts: 2487 - 20/03/2016 18:51:19    1836183

Ispeakwisdom ....... You sound like a Mayo fan!

Dampen expectations.

JayP (Dublin) - Posts: 1772 - 20/03/2016 20:20:25    1836218

We will talk again after Connacht final if Rossies make it i would love
to see them win silver ware give them 2 years they will be AI contenders

wfkerry (USA) - Posts: 933 - 20/03/2016 20:55:05    1836230

Ispeakwisdom ....... You sound like a Mayo fan!

Dampen expectations.

JayP (Dublin) - Posts:1332 - 20/03/2016 20:20:25

-----------------------
The majority of Mayo fans have expectations to when SAM and its not a matter of if but when with our neighbours. Will be a long time before i or and other Roscommon fan has high expectations like that.

ispeakwisdom (Roscommon) - Posts: 2487 - 21/03/2016 18:52:19    1836520

The majority of Mayo fans have expectations to when SAM and its not a matter of if but when with our neighbours. Will be a long time before i or and other Roscommon fan has high expectations like that.

ispeakwisdom (Roscommon) - Posts:1517 - 21/03/2016 18:52:19 1836520

You are taking a lot on yourself there speaking for the majority of Mayo fans and all of Roscommon. Over the last few years when Mayo qualified for All Ireland semi finals on a regular basis naturally hopes were high that we would win Sam. However I think you will find that the mood within the county has changed and there is a realisation that this team is unlikely to win the ultimate prize. I detect a certain giddiness within Roscommon due to their league form and although terms like" three year plan" etc. are being bandied about there is a feeling of optimism around. Maybe I'm wrong but I feel the Ros for Sam posters are being readied. One word of advice though, keep away from the songs, they're not a good idea, and we should know.

Llaw_Gyffes (Mayo) - Posts: 1113 - 22/03/2016 21:36:32    1836936

Are Roscommon the new mayo. The Rossie fan is behaving like a lad on his debs night bursting with expectations of the prize to come when in reality breakfast with the lads will be the end of his big night. Careful lads no Sams are handed out till September.

sceptical (Cavan) - Posts: 544 - 22/03/2016 21:54:57    1836941

Are Roscommon the new mayo. The Rossie fan is behaving like a lad on his debs night bursting with expectations of the prize to come when in reality breakfast with the lads will be the end of his big night. Careful lads no Sams are handed out till September.

sceptical (Cavan) - Posts:390 - 22/03/2016 21:54:57 1836941

Where has anyone said we are even remotely close to sam?? We are miles off and are a work in progress and yeah we have expectations but no body is getting ahead of themselves and TBH I don't think too many inside the county that no football and the players are overly surprised by results we are getting I fancied us to beat Kerry, Cork and Donegal am I getting ahead of myself I don't think so we have better players than those three countys imo but it will take us a while to get used to gameplan and perfect it. I have no doubt we will be at latter stages of championship in next few years.
Anyway a Cavan fan have a go at the Rossies I remember about 18 months ago Cavan people talking about winning Ulster championships after winning a few u21 ulster championship(Ulster is poor u21) and ye getting ahead of yourselves. No one Ros fan has said we will be playing football in September we wont end of story. But a cavan fan should no more than most the potential in Roscommon seeing as we hammered ye last two years in Championship

Pingcity (Longford) - Posts: 568 - 23/03/2016 08:55:25    1836953

Where has anyone said we are even remotely close to sam?? We are miles off and are a work in progress and yeah we have expectations but no body is getting ahead of themselves and TBH I don't think too many inside the county that no football and the players are overly surprised by results we are getting I fancied us to beat Kerry, Cork and Donegal am I getting ahead of myself I don't think so we have better players than those three countys imo but it will take us a while to get used to gameplan and perfect it. I have no doubt we will be at latter stages of championship in next few years.
Anyway a Cavan fan have a go at the Rossies I remember about 18 months ago Cavan people talking about winning Ulster championships after winning a few u21 ulster championship(Ulster is poor u21) and ye getting ahead of yourselves. No one Ros fan has said we will be playing football in September we wont end of story. But a cavan fan should no more than most the potential in Roscommon seeing as we hammered ye last two years in Championship

Pingcity (Longford) - Posts:332 - 23/03/2016 08:55:25 18369

I'm not 100% certain what you are trying to say here, even after reading it three times, but if your claiming that Roscommon have better footballers than Kerry, Cork & Donegal and that Ulster U21's is poor (who are reigning All-Ireland champions again?) I think you need to cool the jets a wee bit. Club finals not even over a week yet, it's time for the real action to start now. By the way, if having better footballers than those three counties have at present still means that you're not in with a chance of playing football in September, you never will.

benched (Tyrone) - Posts: 534 - 23/03/2016 10:00:34    1836969

Game of the weekend will definitely be Roscommon v Mayo, I think this will be war. A loss for Mayo will see them relegated, so I expect them to go out all guns blazing in this game. In saying that, Mayo face a titanic battle to avoid relegation now regardless of how they do at the weekend.

Monaghan v Kerry should be a battle, as both sides have an eye on the league SF. Monaghan will not yield an inch at home, and this turn into another battle like Tralee.

Dublin v Donegal might be a bit of a dead rubber match, as Dublin are already in the league SF and Donegal have more or less guaranteed their division 1 status. I would expect this game to feature a lot of fringe players from both sides, and will likely be open and high scoring. Probably be like previous league encounters between the two in Croker, with Dublin running out comfortable winners in the end.

Cork v Down is a game everybody expects Cork to win based on Downs poor year in Division 1, however Down have enjoyed tight encounters with Cork in recent years and there could possibly be an upset here.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3017 - 23/03/2016 14:15:02    1837066

Pingcity (Longford)

I fancied us to beat Kerry, Cork and Donegal........we have better players than those three countys imo...........No one Ros fan has said we will be playing football in September we wont end of story.

Pretty sure Kerry, Cork & Donegal would be aiming to play in September despite lacking the "quality players" of Roscommon.
I don't know how, but your post is both extremely optimistic & pessimistic of Roscommon chances!!

white.n.blue (Monaghan) - Posts: 249 - 23/03/2016 14:58:55    1837084

white.n.blue

yes and they more than likely will be playing around September I would be very surprised if we are. We have only been under this management less than 6 months its going be another 18 months before we reach our potential. I stand by my claim that I think we have better players than those three counties and I believe time will prove that. Yes they all have all Ireland medals in there back pockets and most our don't even have a Nestor cup medal but I mean this year and currently. We have done we better than anyone predicted and people that wouldn't know Roscommon football don't realise we have some of our best players yet to come back into the team so can only be a positive. On the Roscommon team announced today 10 of the 26 and new faces to the panel this year so we are experimenting a good bit and on our day the only county I wouldn't be confident of getting a result against is the Dubs.

Pingcity (Longford) - Posts: 568 - 23/03/2016 15:36:47    1837100

Love the confidence pingcity

Not sure Id be willing to swap our players for Roscommon just yet..time will tell but hard to know how you honestly think you have better players then us now or even in 18 months time is baffling to say the least.

KY4SAM2015 (Kerry) - Posts: 898 - 23/03/2016 16:03:04    1837111

Exactly time will tell, Kerry are an ageing team and I would be confident of beating Kerry again should we meet. I just said that was my opinion why do you reckon its so baffling? how much do you know about our players or our players coming through? Look I am honestly not trying come across as over cocky but working in Dublin I made the brave prediction to the lads I work with when I started three years ago that we would be in the top 2 or 3 in country in next few years and I haven't had any doubts yet. All we needed was right direction and a solid gameplan to bring out best in our lads and bring a bit of consistency to our game.I am not overly worried about result in next two league games I would rather we relax a bit and then hit form again for championship, The only negative thing for us so far is we havnt got see possibly our two best players yet Murtagh and Harney and the sooner there back 100% the better

Pingcity (Longford) - Posts: 568 - 23/03/2016 16:26:06    1837118

Why is this rise to the top and time needed to install the new game plan going to take so long Pingcity? Is it a problem with the management getting their message across or are the players just a bit slow on the uptake?
After all, of the top of my head since the turn of the century the All-Ireland has been won by at least half a dozen managers in their first year with a team, Jim Gavin, Jack O'Connor (twice), Pat O'Shea, Mickey Harte & Joe Kernan. Why is it going to take Roscommon so long to achieve their potential?

benched (Tyrone) - Posts: 534 - 23/03/2016 16:41:24    1837123