The Next Senior Football Manager - 3 Like(s)
Chairman and county board should resign on block. Embarassing to say the least. Dineen or Casey not up to job. Having relevant success training underage and imtermediate teams in Ross and Leitrim are miles away from seniir intercounty football.

SmokieRoss (Roscommon) - 23/10/2018 22:26:03

The Next Senior Football Manager - 2 Like(s)
New management team but two selectors who failed miserably with our two best ever u21 teams losing convincingly to Tyrone in All Ireland semi in Sligo and following year losing Connacht final to Mayo. Club records decent but more so at intermediate level. Would have concerns over S&C following this media story from last year. However they ALL have to be given a chance. One good thing is the county gym should be back up and running by end of this week". Newspaper Article 'I felt everybody got made a laughing stock of - management, backroom and the players' Strength and conditioning coach Noel Flynn has spoken out following Peter Creedon's departure as Laois senior football manager. A KEY MEMBER of Peter Creedon's former backroom team in Laois believes that his reputation has been "tarnished" by allegations of a drink culture in the O'Moore County. Strength and conditioning coach Noel Flynn, a former Dublin underage player who's also worked with the Tipperary senior footballers, has spoken out following Creedon's departure from the Laois job. Flynn, from the Lucan Sarsfields club in Dublin, is a highly-regarded figure who played in a star-studded NUI Maynooth Sigerson Cup team during his time there. Flynn lined out with current Dublin star Bernard Brogan, Donegal All-Ireland winner Rory Kavanagh, Kerry's Marc Ó Sé, Kildare's Mick Foley and veteran Mayo ace Alan Dillon, among others, at third-level. A graduate of the Setanta College strength and conditioning programme, Flynn got his inter-county break with Creedon, during his final year in charge of Tipperary in 2015. He had hoped to remain with the Premier County for another year - and was working on that premise - but Creedon's successor Liam Kearns opted to bring on board Dave Moriarty"

SmokieRoss (Roscommon) - 20/11/2018 08:06:26

Roscommon GAA thread - 2 Like(s)
Congrats to Strokestown on their victory after an enjoyable final with a big crowd. Thought strokestown were brilliant when Boyle got the equaliser with Donies great free. He took it about 10 metres in from where foul happened. Strokestown seized the moment and worked it brilliantly to get the winning score. Boyle may have a few regrets but over the 60 mins plus Stroketown were the more polished and balanced team and should have won it a bit more comfortably. I thought the referee was excellent and tbf to both teams they made it easier for him. A lot of Boyle supporters would argue why didn't he blow it for extra time but there was two stoppages in the 4 added minutes so well justified to play the additional time. It goes to show how good some refs in roscommon are. Really hope for the best for Cian McKeon but I fear the worse. Looks like it could be cruciate and hopefully I'm wrong. Knee just buckled under him. Be a huge loss for Roscommon amd Boyle but he is young enough to come back stonger for it. Best wishes also to Paddy Brogan as well. I don't think Strokestown will trouble Galway or mayo champions and in fact they could get a trimming and I daresay it was probably one of rhe more open championships and the weakest one in years with no stand out team. Hope its not a sign for the county team for years to come. Hopefully we will have a new manager by mid week let them get on with the job in hand now.

SmokieRoss (National) - 23/10/2022 19:15:23

Roscommon GAA thread - 2 Like(s)
Glad to see changes to backroom team but apart from Brees I wouldn't be too confident on the others. Mostly underage involvement and school coaching and one of them more defensively minded than Poacher ever was and that's with young lads. Apparently it was not easy to get people to get involved as a number of persons were approached. Hearing some of the u20s called up including some of the u20s for next year which is ludicrous but I'm not surprised. County Board should have been brave after the defeat to Galway and looked for a new manager. A lot of the 24-27 year olds from current panel not available next year. Having said that there are lots of players at a good age fit to play inter county if they want e.g Kennelly from Faithleachs mom in intermediate final, Eoin McCormack from Dominics, Flynn from Tulsk, Carey from Pearses, Jack Connaughton from Clann, Butler from Pearses also, McGann from Strokestown to name but a few. None of the new management will know the club scene in Roscommon. One maybe who is from Aidans but it would only be on his own clubs matches. I wish them all the best of luck and have to be given a chance but I fear 2022 could be a depressing year at adult level..

SmokieRoss (National) - 11/11/2021 11:45:54

Club Championship 2018 - 2 Like(s)
Awful stuff from the senior semis this weekend just awful. What are our coaches doing. My god it is woeful stuff whatever it is. Strokestown played with so much fear and tightness they were never going to win it. 7pts in an hours football. Yesterday was not much better. The difference between the two sides was the official and it is not good enough at any stage never mind a semi. Gaels denied a blatant penalty before ht and even before that Nally through on goals with ref playing advantage pulls him back to give him the free. You would have to see it to believe it. For the clan penalty David O Gara should have been shown a black card. He was one of the best players on field yesterday as was young Gillooly. The team that played the most football all weekend was Oran and got their just rewards. Well coached and have a nice mix of blend of youth and experience. Scored a fantastic goal yesterday which was the crucial score and kept Tulsk at arms length for remainder of game. Tadhg O Rourke was a huge loss ableit an appearance from his sick bed proved futile. New county manager has a job on his hands.

SmokieRoss (Roscommon) - 01/10/2018 17:26:54

Connacht Senior Football Championship - 2 Like(s)
Disappointing day in Hyde Park yesterday in the double. Wont say owt about u20 as there is a separate thread for it. Hyde Park pitch was in superb condition yesterday and not a mark on it after two games. One disappointing element was the lack of atmosphere in the ground. It was dead throughout. I think the huge gap between the two games didn't help and the one sided u20 game it was. First of all roscommons tactics were spot on in first half. However we had 13 wides to Galways 10. I don't subsribe to the theory that we should have been further ahead at ht as Galway had 8 wides in first half alone some very easy ones with breeze and a good shout for a penalty on Comer when he skewed wide. Compton going off was a big loss but Galway were beggining to dominate that area. Despite some lazy media analysis i thought Enda Smith was very poor throughtout. As good as our set up was originally i still think the management have some questions to answer. Thats not a call for their heads or anything. However our fitness levels looked way off and its worth noting that the current Galway S&C coach was Roscommons one for John Evans reign and the year of FOD & KM. Second who is the forwards coach and the shot selection was dire at times. While they went down as wides they weren't even near the goals in some instances. This is a problem in recent times and certain players upfront are all about themselves rather then the team. Final point about management was how slow were we to make changes. Domican, McManus were passengers yesterday and responsible directly for 5 points for Galway. Conor Daly should have been into half back line a lot earlier. Fintan Cregg should have been moved higher up pitch once Compton went off. He created and can score but chasing shay walsh was futile. To not score from play in 41 mins in 2nd half is disgraceful. To only score 1-1 in that time is equally as bad. To only score 1- 4 from play in 76 mins of football is brutal. Can we lift it for qualifiers is the big question. Problems remain at 1, 3, 6, and 8. Three week lay off should help but it will take a favourable draw to get to Super 8s. Wouldn't fancy our chances v a Monaghan, Mayo or Tyrone should they get through. No matter what happens now if we make Super 8s we will be in with the Leinster and Ulster winners..

SmokieRoss (Roscommon) - 18/06/2018 13:59:27

Inter County Championship 2020 - 2 Like(s)
One thing I think we all agree is that freshness was needed to the backroom team and no matter what team it is after two years you need to bring in new voices etc. Good reports about Gary Flannery and the players have been impressed with him to date ableit with only one fitness test pre lockdown and zoom sessions. Stephen Poacher is a very surprising move given he was manager of Down minors last month who lost to Fermanagh in Ulster quarter final scoring only 1-4 at that age level. I would have serious concerns about the appointment but to be fair he has to be given the opportunity now that he is appointed. Has got a lot of bad publicity for his sideline antics and his method of play in recent seasons. Surprising that if he was in that big of demand he was only with Carlow seniors and Down minors in recent years no disrespect to either. It's a wonder he isn't involved with his own senior set up. The optics of the timing of the announcement is also strange given that Gary Flannery is in place nearly a month now but announcing two appointments two weeks after our fundraising draw is drawing some choice comments of how the money is being spent particularly when you bring Poacher all the way from Down. He may only have been appointed in recent days which goes back to my earlier point if he is so highly rated and I haven't heard too many saying that then how was he still available this late in the year. Anyhow I wish both of them best of luck and it may be a while before we see a ball kicked given the number of tragic deaths in recent days.

SmokieRoss (Roscommon) - 14/01/2021 19:10:56

Inter County Championship 2020 - 2 Like(s)
Lot of assumption and presumptions regarding subs and starting team. It was no surprise the team that started did start and it was basically the team that beat Armagh with the exception of Donie and he had to start after 7pts v Cavan. In reality nobody else v Cavan made a case to deserve to start and that includes Diarmuid who looked way off the pace v Cavan. Ultan Harney injured and Ciaran Murtagh lessened the options available. Hubert Darcy who was motm in the trial match last Sunday didn't even make the 26 which was strange but there may be something we are not aware of. Shane Killoran also unused when we were getting wiped in middle third for long periods appears strange.. No matter what a management team plan for it can go wrong but there has to be some change. We were comprehensively beaten across the half backline and needed to swap Niall Daly to CB and Brian Stack to mark Diarmuid O Connor who played puck. Our half forward line were murdered on breaks and mayo backs attacking deep into our own half. Surely Enda Smith, Cathal Compton should have been tried at FF and be more direct. Conor Devanney for Cathal Cregg a strange move when we needed a bit of pace. Our first instinct was to go backwards and that was summed up when Cathal Compton took a free from halfway with the breeze and turned around and kicked it back to his keeper. Mayo's intensity caught us by surprise and their games v Tyrone and Galway stood to them as opposed to our games v Armagh and Cavan who struggled to beat Div 3 and Div 4 teams over past two weekends. Different gravy. Mayo looked an awful lot fitter and maybe the disruption leading into Cavan match with Covid issues had an effect on training etc. We didn't learn our lessons from that Cavan match either taking ball into tackles and getting turned over numerous times. Overall 2020 a very strange year and promotion was priority which is great However the way Kerry's result has gone it is an opportunity missed one that won't present itself again for a long time. Will we have as strong as panel again at our disposal?. There is no doubt that there is club politics at play with certain selections on panel and a freshening up of the backroom team be it adding to it or changing some of them is required.

SmokieRoss (Roscommon) - 08/11/2020 22:08:28

Roscommon GAA thread - 2 Like(s)
So the same old story yesterday apart from.the surrounds. Pitch in great nick, scoreboard looks the part, new seats looks fantastic now just to sort out the PA system and dressing rooms. As for the match a carbon copy of the league match. Mayo dominated first 20 minutes and Roscommon responded. Ross started 2nd half better than league game only just and then Mayo took over and effectively won the match in 15 mins. We had too many players on the pitch undercooked. Ronan Daly not his greatest match, Ultan Harney and Ben O Carroll decent first half but died a death and all three should have been replaced early into 2nd half. Davy Murray was a huge loss and looks to have a serious injury so best wishes to him. Tadgh O Rourke improved things when introduced. The depth of the squad was crueely exposed yesterday amd that's not surprising when losing players like Ciaran Murtagh, Eddie Nolan, Conor Daly and Cian McKeon all established county players with huge experience. The bottom line is our play is too slow. Backs carrying ball up to forwards who invariably pass it backwards. Our best scores come when we move ball fast. Edna's half goal chance was a perfect example of quick ball. Tbf to Enda it was only half a chance as he had a very narrow target to aim for abd even allowing for it to be on target it was going to be difficult to score. Same for Eoin McCormack in terms of difficultly as he had to Mayo players between him and goals not to mention the keeper. S&C coach is the same coach who was there in 2019 with Anthony Cunningham when we beat Mayo and Galway away to win connacht title.so that argument is rubbish. We are a badly coached team and have been for the best part of two years. We got a lot of luck early doors last year in league and against Mayo in ¼ final a week aftwr they played league final but we were badly exposed v Galway, Kildare and Cork and for long parts v Sligo. Mark McHugh was in place then so how is he the messiah now. As I said before on here Gerry McGowan is a bigger loss. Some posters on here about club managers replacing coaches etc but yet the only Roscommon man in there has never managed any team and was only a selector with Ross underage teams until this gig.. The most annoying thing aside from our slow lethargic build up play was yesterday we never looked like we could win the match and it is a poor Mayo side compared to teams of old..

SmokieRoss (National) - 22/04/2024 20:57:50

Roscommon GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
Havent been on here since the sad and untimely death of Mick McCormack. A great GAA man, a character and a gentleman who will be greatly missed by all. May God rest his soul. Great news about the Hyde and not a moment too soon that the concrete seats are gone as they were a montrosity and a death trap. Should make the stand side a bit more appealing. Onto the action amd the final round of group matches which see a lot of dead rubbers due to the not very well thought out new format. The one group holding all the attention is Ross Gaels, Boyle, Faithleachs and Westwrn Gaels. I am yet to be convinced of RG who have only scored 13pts in two matches with the freakish 6 goals v Boyle in the first half. Lucky to get a draw v WG the last day. I think Faithleachs could spring a surprise but will need the Murtaghs/Rooney to shoot the lights out. Faithleachs can feel very aggrieved over the final 15 mins v Boyle which was on tv and great coverage may I add. The blatant black card 12 minutes from tine not given to Boyle player after Dara Cregg had given the ball away inside his own 45 was the pivotal moment a very cagey, tight even match. While Boyke were a lot more organised in defence the last day it was a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul as they were fairly limp up front. Don't rule out a draw in one or both of these matches. Oran v Clann will be a case of shadow boxing and giving panelists a run out. Tulsk v Stokestown is effectively a relegation preliminary playoff. A draw would be wnough for Tulsk. Other group is a dead rubber also as Brids are already group winners, Glaveys are gone and its only a matter of how much will Pearses beat Dominics by. Intermediate has a bit more interest with Castlerea v Pearses and Elphin v Creggs as the stand out matches. Hard to see by Brids, Feurty amd Michaels for the 3 championships at this juncture. Clann Juniors could be the upset. Is there any match on Ross TV this weekend.

SmokieRoss (National) - 29/08/2023 20:41:25

Roscommon GAA thread - 1 Like(s)
Was at minor match on Friday amd Roscommon were very poor. I see a previous poster saying they were unlucky v a good mayo side. Not sure about that as Mayo had 14 men only for over a half and it looked liked Mayo had the extra man. A win next week over sligo would see them into a connacht semi v the losers of the big two which I would imagine would be away given positions on the table. Back to senior in three weeks and I hope the long lay-off from Sligo match doesn't come back to haunt us. 4 weeks is a long time to be waiting. I'm sure they had or have challenges arranged. Injury wise it appears a clean bill of health thus far. I'd imagine that there will be at least one change to team where i suspect Niall Kilroy will come into play sweeper role and we need one given the way Sligo opened us at times and the 22 points we conceded in league final with Galway FF line scoring 8/9 pts from play and also hit the crossbar with a shot for goal early in first half. Walsh will be on pitch for full match for this one and he played puck when on for league final for 20 mins. Granted Croke Park is far more expansive than Salthill but he will still need a man marker. Heneghan or Donie Smith will miss out and I suspect it will be the former due to Donies experience. McKeon will be needed for his power and pace. I wouldn't read too much into who was on pitch last year for Ross as we were a mess trying to adopt a defensive game. We still have to overturn a 6pt defeat and granted we will be more offensive but we will probably leave more gaps also. To answer the question a previous poster asked I'm not a Faithleachs man or ever but Castleknock are my club. The point I'm making about Diarmuid Murtagh is based on his previous championship performances including coming on v Mayo in Hyde two seasons ago and he scored 2pts in a flash but Mayo were so far ahead they could drop bodies back and allow him to shoot for pts but not get any goal. Donie hasn't produced in championship as a starter and isnt a regular championship starter and signs were there again v Sligo. Shouldn't make any difference if he is captain and If he starts I hope he has a stormer.

SmokieRoss (National) - 08/05/2022 17:46:30

National Football League 2019 - 1 Like(s)
Hard to know where we are at after last night as conditions were as bad as i have ever seen at a football match. The game was in the balance whether it was to be played or not on health & safety grounds after the wire on the ball stopping net snapped before throw in. I would imagine the fact that there was such a huge crowd and tv influenced the decision. Conditions levelled the playing field and that always favours the weaker team so you would have to say that was us. Not to score with the storm at our backs after 18 minutes was a disaster. It was baffling that we only kept three players in Mayo half for a lot of the first half. Its okay being defensive but you have to use the advantages when you have them. Not sure what one poster on here was looking at regarding O'Malley whose kick outs against the wind were very good. Midfield is and will be a consistent problem for us. Back line was solid but it was a a night for defenders with the conditions. Compton and Killoran were good and Harney was excellent when introduced. Few players to come back will improve things namely Murray, Devanney and Mullooly. We will still struggle in central positions which we will be found out versus the big teams. Two other talking points for me. Donie Smith will get a ban and deservedly so. Didn't seem obvious at match and no way ref or linesman on stand side could have picked it up. Only one that may have had a chance of seeing it was Maurice Deegan on other side but it would be nearly impossible from 70 yards away on a dark night with driving rain. Looking at video Donie has two go's at it and will be in bother. Keith Higgins reaction was understandable and any player on end of it would do the same. In fact he should have nailed him altogether. The other point for me was Roscommon were out on pitch 23 mins before throw in and were absolutely drowned and cold. Cathal Cregg was down under stand sheltering at times and was shaking with the cold. We done the opposite at ht and appear to come back out in same jerseys. Mayo changed kit at ht. Of course we probably only had the one set!!

SmokieRoss (Roscommon) - 27/01/2019 12:32:04

Connacht Senior Football Championship - 1 Like(s)

SmokieRoss (Roscommon) - 04/07/2018 22:24:43

Roscommon U-21 footballers - 1 Like(s)

SmokieRoss (Roscommon) - 22/03/2017 22:41:30

Roscommon GAA thread - 1 Like(s)

SmokieRoss (National) - 14/04/2022 17:25:03

Club Championship 2019 - 1 Like(s)
Club championship has been very average to date and Anthony Cunningham won't be finding too much for enior county level. Clann were woeful against Boyle and Cian McKeon who was excellent could have had a hat-trick of goals but punched ball over the bar every time he was through as the game was over. McKeon was excellent as was Donie Smith, Seanie Purcell and Enda Smith at times scoring the crucial second goal. It is not hard to see why Brids or Clann have so few players on the county panel. For Ross Gaels Connolly and Scott Oates were very good in 2nd half as was Ronan Carolan. David O Gara was the main focal point for the Gaels and certainly stopped playing county football way too early by his own choice. John McManus kept Diarmuid Murtagh very quiet aside from giving away a very dubious penalty when ball was 50 yards from the Gaels goal. To be fair to Diarmuid Murtagh he had little or no help and Faithleachs didn't appear to have much of a plan. Elphin got a reality check yesterday v Croans and were Feurty to beat them the next day and Brids beat Croans, Elphin would end up in the relegation battle. There are too many teams in the senior champ and it is time to reduce it to 10 and have two groups of 5. Same for intermediate with some hammerings dished out at the weekend and subsequently junior standard will improve. The fact that a second team is in with a chance of winning it's again for the 2nd time in three years says it all. Kilglass who won junior last year will.probably go straight back down. Be interesting to see what happens if one of the big guns get relegated e.g. Brids or Clann will they actually go down. Rumblings already that they won't. The other scenario that a team will get a bye to a quarter final is crazy but a team who may not actually win a game could get to the quarter finals by getting a bye is ridiculous!!

SmokieRoss (Roscommon) - 26/08/2019 20:55:45

New Sligo Manager - 1 Like(s)

SmokieRoss (Sligo) - 07/09/2017 19:50:38

Roscommon GAA thread - 1 Like(s)

SmokieRoss (National) - 15/02/2022 18:57:34

The Super 8 - 1 Like(s)
Lot of interesting comments on here. All players available to play for county are doing so or at least have been approached. Sean Mullooly is the exception as he opted out for this summer. It is obvious that there is still a lot of politics at play with certain players particularly from the Evans era. How Darren O Malley is not goalkeeper is very strange. What is even more strange is Conor Daly not featuring at all yesterday and his brother not even brought on. The axis of McStay and McHale has to be looked at. I have no issue McStay remaining as manager but what does Liam McHale bring to set up. His influence is clearly from a basketball background and we put everything through the hands far too much. Yesterday was equally as bad as last week and only for Donegal took foot off gas very early which they could regret for scoring average the margin could equally have been as big as last week. Once Donegal headed us in after 18 minutes it was game over. We went ovwr twenty mins in first half without svoring and close on 15 mins in a period in 2nd half. That is a combined total of one half of football without scoring. Its not if we had many chances in these periods also. The most disappointing thing for me past two weeks is we cannot tackle. In fact we don't even make a concerted efgort. In a sport where contact is paramount some of the efforts yesterday were woeful. It resembled something from an u8 blitz. Pulling the jersey and not letting go so amateurish. Even for the Donegal goal chance in first half which Lavin saved well it should have been a penalty as David Murray was pulling his jersey as he shot. Monaghan are and should be the barometer for us and similar sized counties. This talk of all our underage success. Where was it. One minor all ireland title in 2006. All our appearances in Connacht u21 finals winning 50 percent and we never won an AI. Mayo are now in their third underage all ireland final in recent years winning two of them to date and a third one beckons in two weeks. How many of the u21 team from first u21 all ireland in recent times in 2012 are even on the panel now never mind playing. Monaghan had limited underage success so it counts for little or nothing.. It is clearly obvious that there is an issue with S&C. I am hearing that there is no supervision of it that you do it yourself. That never works. Of course there is financial issues and there is no investment at underage level. U17 and u20 teams were way off pace physically also so that is going to count if and when they come to senior level. For me McStay stays moving out McHale along with bringing in a defensive and goalkeeping coach. Mainatain Ger Dowd and add another two selectors from north and south of county and none of this cosy cartel that has gone on past three years. Look at squads from past 5 years at senior u21 and minor level and pick 30 players who are committed, will put in the work in gym and be part of a team effort not individual glory. There is at least 8/9 players in squad who shouldn't be there and are only on it because of the clubs they are from or relatives are friends with the manager. Thought we had eradicated that under Evans but has come back in vogue big time.

SmokieRoss (Roscommon) - 22/07/2018 11:09:40

The Super 8 - 1 Like(s)
Fantastic win in end today when it looked dodgy at times in first half. Will be fantastic to be in Suoer 8s and hopefully we can give a goid account of ourselves. Great game and fantastic support in a terrific venue which county board could learn a lot from. Cathal Cregg was my MOM today with his direct running. Croke Park could really see him thrive. Thought Ciaran Murtagh was excellent also. Enda Smith will grab the headlines but was really anonymous until 30 minutes in. Thought Niall Daly played really well until he tired which was understandable given his lay off. John McManus was excellent also and easily his best display in a ross jersey to date. Patterson, Fintan Cregg and Cathal Compton all made significant contributions when introduced. Colm Lavin was very good throughout. Looking ahead to the Super 8s which rolls around very quickly we have to be realistic that we were put to the pin of our collar by a Div 3 team who scored 1-19. How there was no change in full back line in first half was baffling. Even some of the forwards came to the sideline to question it. If we get a start again like we did today in the Three Super 8 games we will get a repeat of mayo replay last year x 3. I can't understand how Conor Daly is not starting as we need his mobility in that defence. We got murdered on the Armagh kick outs and no team will concede kick outs to us like Armagh did. While i am not convinced of progress yet as we are back to where we were last year after beating a Div 4 and a Div 3 team we need to perform over next month..

SmokieRoss (Roscommon) - 07/07/2018 23:35:37