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Roscommon GAA thread

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Replying To endgame:  "Scheduling hurt Roscommon in the U20 championship so there's a price to be paid for not topping the group. I found last night's win against Mayo very sweet particularly coming so soon after the U20 loss to Mayo which had left a sour taste with that questionable disallowed goal. On a broader note, underage football is strong in both counties and it's then about bringing players on to play senior football as Shane Moran said after last night's game."
I was joking obviously. Certain posters here were obsessed with the scheduling after the U20 final. Everyone knows the schedule for failing to top the group.

Also playing one game per week is no issue for young lads. I was playing soccer and gaelic every week at their age.

MayoDan (Mayo) - Posts: 456 - 10/05/2025 16:17:04    2608056

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Congrats to Roscommon and maybe the two might meet again ;)
From our perspective underage is looking good recently which bodes well for the future. Roscommon in fairness always produce good underage teams. The key for both counties is to keep these lads at it and nurture their development. Life though gets in the way and there's no guarantees.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11563 - 10/05/2025 16:17:55    2608057

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Replying To yew_tree:  "Congrats to Roscommon and maybe the two might meet again ;)
From our perspective underage is looking good recently which bodes well for the future. Roscommon in fairness always produce good underage teams. The key for both counties is to keep these lads at it and nurture their development. Life though gets in the way and there's no guarantees."
Unfortunately Roscommon struggle to translate underage to senior. In the past 25 years we've won 5 minor Connachts (if you include the first u17 one) and 6 u20/21s. In the same period we've won 3 at senior. While the minors might have been in with a good shout to win a few more, the only one I can think of that the seniors missed out on was 2011. The minors have made 3 all Ireland semis and u17s one all Ireland and the U20/21s have made three all ireland finals. I know the format is different but the seniors haven't made a semi final since 91. Consistency at senior level seems to be elusive for Roscommon.

FullOfPorter (Roscommon) - Posts: 90 - 10/05/2025 17:00:38    2608073

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Replying To FullOfPorter:  "Unfortunately Roscommon struggle to translate underage to senior. In the past 25 years we've won 5 minor Connachts (if you include the first u17 one) and 6 u20/21s. In the same period we've won 3 at senior. While the minors might have been in with a good shout to win a few more, the only one I can think of that the seniors missed out on was 2011. The minors have made 3 all Ireland semis and u17s one all Ireland and the U20/21s have made three all ireland finals. I know the format is different but the seniors haven't made a semi final since 91. Consistency at senior level seems to be elusive for Roscommon."
A decade in Div 1 or getting promoted from Div 2 and reaching the last 8 of the championship a handful of times would not have been achieved without underage success translating to senior level.

Gaa_lover (USA) - Posts: 3610 - 10/05/2025 19:20:36    2608141

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Replying To MayoDan:  "I was joking obviously. Certain posters here were obsessed with the scheduling after the U20 final. Everyone knows the schedule for failing to top the group.

Also playing one game per week is no issue for young lads. I was playing soccer and gaelic every week at their age."
Worst "joking" I've seen on here. Are you watching the Ulster final today to see what fatigue and tiredness does players/teams? and they are both well conditioned Senior teams. Your low level soccer and gaelic every week as a young lad isn't comparable

Drax_the_destroyer (UK) - Posts: 436 - 10/05/2025 19:37:34    2608146

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Replying To Gaa_lover:  "A decade in Div 1 or getting promoted from Div 2 and reaching the last 8 of the championship a handful of times would not have been achieved without underage success translating to senior level."
What we have done at senior level does tend to be underestimated. It's not that long ago we were a team whereby Div 3 was our level and even fell to Div 4 one year. The work and success at underage has no doubt allowed us the opportunity to be a top 8 league football team at senior level and have the opportunity of playing in the last 8 of the championship. If we manage to do the latter this summer along with league promotion I will very much mark it down as a successful senior year.

The_analyser (Roscommon) - Posts: 4043 - 10/05/2025 20:28:42    2608170

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Replying To The_analyser:  "What we have done at senior level does tend to be underestimated. It's not that long ago we were a team whereby Div 3 was our level and even fell to Div 4 one year. The work and success at underage has no doubt allowed us the opportunity to be a top 8 league football team at senior level and have the opportunity of playing in the last 8 of the championship. If we manage to do the latter this summer along with league promotion I will very much mark it down as a successful senior year."
The measure of Roscommon's senior success is Connacht titles. We're not going to win the All Ireland unfortunately and the League is devalued. Roscommon supporters wouldn't have heeded if we were promoted or relegated this year if we won the Nestor cup. We've won four Connacht titles since 2000 which isn't a great haul. We won four Connachts in the 1970s. We have seen an era of better underage success for Roscommon but the senior team has underperformed given the players at the team's disposal. Outside of Connacht, we haven't won a championship match in Croke park since 1980 or reached an All Ireland semi final since 1991. The Burke years are wasted years in my view.

endgame (Roscommon) - Posts: 2406 - 10/05/2025 21:08:10    2608193

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Replying To The_analyser:  "What we have done at senior level does tend to be underestimated. It's not that long ago we were a team whereby Div 3 was our level and even fell to Div 4 one year. The work and success at underage has no doubt allowed us the opportunity to be a top 8 league football team at senior level and have the opportunity of playing in the last 8 of the championship. If we manage to do the latter this summer along with league promotion I will very much mark it down as a successful senior year."
That is true when you say where we were but why settle for that. We are under achieving compared to Monaghan. Most of the Ulster counties aside from Cavan and Down were at nothing till the 90s and 00s. They didn't let those previous barren years put a ceiling on their ambitions.

FullOfPorter (Roscommon) - Posts: 90 - 10/05/2025 21:27:11    2608204

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Replying To endgame:  "The measure of Roscommon's senior success is Connacht titles. We're not going to win the All Ireland unfortunately and the League is devalued. Roscommon supporters wouldn't have heeded if we were promoted or relegated this year if we won the Nestor cup. We've won four Connacht titles since 2000 which isn't a great haul. We won four Connachts in the 1970s. We have seen an era of better underage success for Roscommon but the senior team has underperformed given the players at the team's disposal. Outside of Connacht, we haven't won a championship match in Croke park since 1980 or reached an All Ireland semi final since 1991. The Burke years are wasted years in my view."
I don't even think it's winning or loosing we're just not a team anyone fears were seen as soft
Even the group were n this year cork and the Leinster runner up will fancy beating us there's no bit of bite to us !
I don't usually buy into blaming managers but I think Davy is out of his depth and both the team and management look
Uninterested to this point - we do seem to do better when there's little expected but realistically even if we get out
Of the group it's hard to see us winning a preliminary qtr final
Like I've said
Many times this year hope
I'm proven wrong

rossy15 (Roscommon) - Posts: 645 - 10/05/2025 21:42:18    2608209

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Replying To Drax_the_destroyer:  "Worst "joking" I've seen on here. Are you watching the Ulster final today to see what fatigue and tiredness does players/teams? and they are both well conditioned Senior teams. Your low level soccer and gaelic every week as a young lad isn't comparable"
Managed to get you to respond so it worked just as I hoped..

Yeah some of the players today were struggling because it went to extra time.. 90 minutes in total and the likes of Michael Murphy is nearly 36, Rory Grugan 34 etc.

It's all relative so I don't see what point your trying to make.

Well conditioned senior players play against other well conditioned senior players in 70 minute games.

U20/17 players play at their own grade in 60 minute games.

I play against other club players, some of whom struggle to get through a 5 aside game.

MayoDan (Mayo) - Posts: 456 - 10/05/2025 21:50:44    2608214

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Replying To endgame:  "The measure of Roscommon's senior success is Connacht titles. We're not going to win the All Ireland unfortunately and the League is devalued. Roscommon supporters wouldn't have heeded if we were promoted or relegated this year if we won the Nestor cup. We've won four Connacht titles since 2000 which isn't a great haul. We won four Connachts in the 1970s. We have seen an era of better underage success for Roscommon but the senior team has underperformed given the players at the team's disposal. Outside of Connacht, we haven't won a championship match in Croke park since 1980 or reached an All Ireland semi final since 1991. The Burke years are wasted years in my view."
I like Senior Connacht championship as much as anyone but it's the competition that has been devalued not the league matter of fact the league has increased in value with it's connection to the Championship now.

Winning a senior Connacht championship in the past meant you reached All Ireland semi final

Then came the qualifiers in 2001 and winning Connacht meant a last eight spot instead of the semi final.

Right now for the 3rd year in a row winning Connacht only gets you a first seeded place in the last 16 and you get into the last 16 thanks to your league placing . Yes had we won Connacht we would have celebrated winning a title as much if not more than Galway but reaching the last 8 is a step further than winning Connacht now and this summer will likely require winning two or three games to reach it.

The poor record in Croke Park and long wait for semi final spot are glass ceilings we have been unable to break however I'm looking at the here and now plus my general expectations for the summer ahead and I maintain should we reach the last 8 of the championship to go along with promotion back to Div 1 it will be a good year IMO.

The_analyser (Roscommon) - Posts: 4043 - 10/05/2025 23:27:10    2608266

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Replying To The_analyser:  "I like Senior Connacht championship as much as anyone but it's the competition that has been devalued not the league matter of fact the league has increased in value with it's connection to the Championship now.

Winning a senior Connacht championship in the past meant you reached All Ireland semi final

Then came the qualifiers in 2001 and winning Connacht meant a last eight spot instead of the semi final.

Right now for the 3rd year in a row winning Connacht only gets you a first seeded place in the last 16 and you get into the last 16 thanks to your league placing . Yes had we won Connacht we would have celebrated winning a title as much if not more than Galway but reaching the last 8 is a step further than winning Connacht now and this summer will likely require winning two or three games to reach it.

The poor record in Croke Park and long wait for semi final spot are glass ceilings we have been unable to break however I'm looking at the here and now plus my general expectations for the summer ahead and I maintain should we reach the last 8 of the championship to go along with promotion back to Div 1 it will be a good year IMO."
Big difference alright between winning Connacht and being one game away from an All Ireland final and now Galway will have to play at least 5 and possibly 6 matches more to get into one.

letsgetgoing (Roscommon) - Posts: 730 - 11/05/2025 11:31:01    2608381

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Replying To The_analyser:  "I like Senior Connacht championship as much as anyone but it's the competition that has been devalued not the league matter of fact the league has increased in value with it's connection to the Championship now.

Winning a senior Connacht championship in the past meant you reached All Ireland semi final

Then came the qualifiers in 2001 and winning Connacht meant a last eight spot instead of the semi final.

Right now for the 3rd year in a row winning Connacht only gets you a first seeded place in the last 16 and you get into the last 16 thanks to your league placing . Yes had we won Connacht we would have celebrated winning a title as much if not more than Galway but reaching the last 8 is a step further than winning Connacht now and this summer will likely require winning two or three games to reach it.

The poor record in Croke Park and long wait for semi final spot are glass ceilings we have been unable to break however I'm looking at the here and now plus my general expectations for the summer ahead and I maintain should we reach the last 8 of the championship to go along with promotion back to Div 1 it will be a good year IMO."
Wrong. The League is absolutely devalued by its proximity to the start of the championship. We saw teams such as Donegal not even wanting to reach the League Final because it would interfere with their preparation for the start of the championship. There is too little time between the end of the League and the start of the championship and that needs to be addressed. Donegal would have been in a League Final one Sunday and playing in the championship the following Sunday and of course in that scenario League Final qualification was not the priority. I agree that a provincial championship doesn't get a team as far as it once did .However, it's still a big prize in its own right. You'll see some celebrations if Louth can win Leinster today for the first time since 1957. I think most Roscommon supporters would prefer a Connacht title to a quarter final place if that was the choice. If we won Connacht last year, we'd have had a cup whereas we got to a quarter final and went out to Armagh. Better to do both of course, but given the choice I'd take the Nestor cup.

endgame (Roscommon) - Posts: 2406 - 11/05/2025 12:51:44    2608399

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Replying To endgame:  "Wrong. The League is absolutely devalued by its proximity to the start of the championship. We saw teams such as Donegal not even wanting to reach the League Final because it would interfere with their preparation for the start of the championship. There is too little time between the end of the League and the start of the championship and that needs to be addressed. Donegal would have been in a League Final one Sunday and playing in the championship the following Sunday and of course in that scenario League Final qualification was not the priority. I agree that a provincial championship doesn't get a team as far as it once did .However, it's still a big prize in its own right. You'll see some celebrations if Louth can win Leinster today for the first time since 1957. I think most Roscommon supporters would prefer a Connacht title to a quarter final place if that was the choice. If we won Connacht last year, we'd have had a cup whereas we got to a quarter final and went out to Armagh. Better to do both of course, but given the choice I'd take the Nestor cup."
The disappointing part is we have a group of a lads from talented underage teams who should be just around their peak at the same time as Dublins dominance ends and the championship open up. But we are not capitalising on that. Monaghan haven't had the same underage success as us but yet have made 2 all Ireland semi finals over the past 20 years. Maybe they have just been fortunate enough to have had management teams which have made the most of their talented groups of players.

FullOfPorter (Roscommon) - Posts: 90 - 11/05/2025 16:36:25    2608458

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Replying To endgame:  "Wrong. The League is absolutely devalued by its proximity to the start of the championship. We saw teams such as Donegal not even wanting to reach the League Final because it would interfere with their preparation for the start of the championship. There is too little time between the end of the League and the start of the championship and that needs to be addressed. Donegal would have been in a League Final one Sunday and playing in the championship the following Sunday and of course in that scenario League Final qualification was not the priority. I agree that a provincial championship doesn't get a team as far as it once did .However, it's still a big prize in its own right. You'll see some celebrations if Louth can win Leinster today for the first time since 1957. I think most Roscommon supporters would prefer a Connacht title to a quarter final place if that was the choice. If we won Connacht last year, we'd have had a cup whereas we got to a quarter final and went out to Armagh. Better to do both of course, but given the choice I'd take the Nestor cup."
I'm not wrong have you read what I wrote properly at all. It's close proximity to the championship is because of it's connection to it with seeding. Plus any suspension is carried over into the championship or if you get sent off in your last championship game you miss the first league game as was seen with Enda Smith last year v Tyrone in round 1 of the league. Teams not wanting reach the Div 1 final is a different debate something HQ can sort out by putting two weeks between the final and the start of the championship.

Ideally I would like Connacht and Quarter final spot but one is gone and now it's about aim to do the other

The_analyser (Roscommon) - Posts: 4043 - 11/05/2025 17:42:56    2608470

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So Meath for us in three weeks. Played their part in a good quality Leinster final today. Will be wounded lion travelling to the Hyde and have all of previous injured players back from injury.

The_analyser (Roscommon) - Posts: 4043 - 11/05/2025 17:58:38    2608474

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Replying To The_analyser:  "So Meath for us in three weeks. Played their part in a good quality Leinster final today. Will be wounded lion travelling to the Hyde and have all of previous injured players back from injury."
Wounded but also have a huge work rate. Both teams who were our Div 2 compadres work harder and tackle better than us. We need massive improvement and management need to realise that football is a completely different game now and if we play a style of play that seems to be designed for the old rules then we will end up bottom of the group.

FullOfPorter (Roscommon) - Posts: 90 - 11/05/2025 18:08:26    2608484

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Was in Croke Park today and really enjoyed the match. It was a game of many twists and turns. Both teams brought huge support and it was a fantastic atmosphere. I thought that Meath played better in the first half and were very good at leaving the hand on the arm of opponents to turn over possession at times, so not dwelling on the ball will be critical. Louth seemed to me, to be a fitter team in the second half. Interesting to see how Meath will do against Cork in the first game? No easy games for Roscommon in this group.
The publicans in Roscommon better get a few extra barrels in for Meath match based on today's turnout.
Privilege in Croke Park to see Louth winning the cup after about 68 years.

letsgetgoing (Roscommon) - Posts: 730 - 11/05/2025 18:48:28    2608511

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Replying To The_analyser:  "I'm not wrong have you read what I wrote properly at all. It's close proximity to the championship is because of it's connection to it with seeding. Plus any suspension is carried over into the championship or if you get sent off in your last championship game you miss the first league game as was seen with Enda Smith last year v Tyrone in round 1 of the league. Teams not wanting reach the Div 1 final is a different debate something HQ can sort out by putting two weeks between the final and the start of the championship.

Ideally I would like Connacht and Quarter final spot but one is gone and now it's about aim to do the other"
I know your point and of course Roscommon need to be in the race for Sam Maguire every year . My point is that any year Roscommon win Connacht is a good year and we haven't won it since 2019. Personally I'd prefer a Connacht title to a quarter final place if it were either or. Louth will hugely enjoy and celebrate their Leinster win. If the provincial championships were abolished as some have suggested , there'd be very little chance of Roscommon winning anything because we are miles off the standard seen in Clones last night between Armagh and Donegal.

endgame (Roscommon) - Posts: 2406 - 11/05/2025 18:50:53    2608512

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Replying To letsgetgoing:  "Was in Croke Park today and really enjoyed the match. It was a game of many twists and turns. Both teams brought huge support and it was a fantastic atmosphere. I thought that Meath played better in the first half and were very good at leaving the hand on the arm of opponents to turn over possession at times, so not dwelling on the ball will be critical. Louth seemed to me, to be a fitter team in the second half. Interesting to see how Meath will do against Cork in the first game? No easy games for Roscommon in this group.
The publicans in Roscommon better get a few extra barrels in for Meath match based on today's turnout.
Privilege in Croke Park to see Louth winning the cup after about 68 years."
Ya this is going to be a very tough group to get placed in. In reality we aren't beating Kerry in Killarney and id hope we don't get hammered out the gate because if meath beat Cork then they come to the hyde with real ambition and we are in big trouble

dave1988 (Roscommon) - Posts: 1237 - 11/05/2025 20:01:56    2608548

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