Roscommon manager Des Newton knows that he faces a tough start to the league as he could well be missing up to seven regulars.

Since taking over from Fergal O'Donnell towards the end of last year, Newton has yet to work with his full compliment of players, mainly because of St Brigid's continued interest in the All-Ireland club SFC campaign and players lining out for their colleges.

Tomorrow, Roscommon take on Mayo in the FBD league in what will be a repeat of last summer's Connacht final and Newton feels that despite having so many absentees, preparations for the league are on track.

"It's very early in the season to be talking about anything much. I'm the same as any other county manager with players' availability at this time of year, and we also have St Brigid's in the All-Ireland club semi-final," Newton stressed to the Irish Independent.

"We've been doing a lot of strength work, trying to catch up a bit because of the timing of the appointment. We got a fair bit out of the first match against GMIT because it came on the back of a challenge against Donegal on the Friday night beforehand.

"Last Sunday we looked a bit sluggish against Leitrim, but we'll hope to improve the performance against Mayo and then get down to preparing over the next two weeks for Tipperary. It's important we make good use of those two weeks, particularly the weekend, to do what we can to be ready for the start of the league." Tweet

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