In February last the Roscommon minor footballers were hockeyed by 20 points by Armagh in a challenge game. Eight months later they were crowned All-Ireland champions. Sometimes words are simply inadequate in trying to explain transformations, events, achievements. In Roscommon GAA circles most observers are still trying to find the key (words) to sort out their lockjaw. However some of those at the heart of one of the most surprise title wins at the top level in football in recent years have turned out to be right 'oul wordsmiths. Take David Flynn, captain of Roscommon's 2006 All-Ireland winning minors -manager Fergal O'Donnell's general on the field of play. Strains of Charlie Haughey's Grotesque, Unbelieveable, Bizarre and Unprecedented filter the autumnal air as young Flynn gives vent to his feelings about helping to steer his native county to the 2006 All-Ireland MFC title. There's scarcely room for more superlatives to be squeezed into play by the time the team's Captain Fantastic has exhausted his quota of reflections on a glorious nine months. January to September 2006 will forever be etched on young Flynn's cerebellum, chained to Roscommon GAA's bank of archival material. It was an "unbelievable, brillant, unforgettable" year and more besides. Barely one month on from Roscommon's glorious odyssey to the pantheon of great county teams to emerge from the west of the Shannon, Flynn and Co. are still sporting backs and shoulders with the hands of a thousand well-wishers embossed with a red, sunburn-like hue. My now things can change. Back in February, Roscommon's young guns couldn't buy a hand-shake from gaels in the county with one eye on the minors' preparations for the Connacht league and championship campaigns. By their own admission, the Roscommon camp were heading no-where with the hammering by Armagh following on from stuffings suffered at the hands of Westmeath and Fermanagh, also in challenges. "We were very poor around then," team-captain Flynn concedes,"but we were missing the lads from Athlone Community College who were playing in the Leinster championship and as far as I remember our the full-back line and the midfield that we would later have in the championship weren't playing in those matches. "We weren't looking good though, in fairness." David reckons that out of adversity, Roscommon grew stronger and the camaraderie and spirit in the camp slowly mushroomed. "Half way through the league, things started to look better for us," David recalls. "We played Donegal in a challenge match and lost just narrowly and were a bit unlucky to lose. "Then we got to within two points of Galway in the league, beat Sligo and ran Leitrim very close. "We were improving, bit by bit." There must have been some grunting and heaving at that stage, nonetheless, to pick yourselves off the floor? "Yeh but Fergal (O'Donnell) did his job to perfection. "He was a real psychologist, especially when one defeat was following another," the Clann na Gael star explained. Gradually the Roscommon players improved their collective fitness levels and ball skills. David himself acknowledges that, as a player, his rate of progress from the opening month of the year to September surprised even himself. He puts that down to the rigorous nature of O'Donnell's training and the fact that "90%" of the work was done with the ball. He admits that, on occasions, the hard slog of training did get to him. Sometimes arriving back home, just outside the town of Athlone, at around 10.30pm from county training in Kilbride, he often felt too tired to get stuck into his college work. At that time of night, tired and hungry, and having to start working on his project as part of his Construction Technology and Management course at Athlone IT 'till half-one in the morning served to test his resolve and football ambition to the last. The embers of a campaign slowly coming to life helped brighten his days and nights though. "I felt we were onto something once we beat Galway in the championship. "I realised then that we had the ability to make a real impact. "For two months, all our focus was on the Galway game, nothing else." And the game against the Tribesmen? What made the difference? "The goal was the difference. It was a bit lucky because their goalkeeper made a mistake but we weren't complaining," David replies. Scoffing at any suggestion that he would go onto become Roscommon's Captain Fantastic, David works as hard at playing down his own role in the rise and rise of Roscommon's stock as he did when togged out during the year. He says he didn't do any more than the rest of the team apart from maybe "say a few words in the huddle before the matches." What did he say? "Nothing much. I kept it short and sweet; just reminding the lads that they were playing for their county, their club and their families. Being captain to me was mostly about leading the way in training, doing the drills properly and doing everything that was asked of us by the management." Do the right thing seemed to be the motto in the Roscommon camp all year. David doesn't agree with the suggestion that perhaps Roscommon's name was on the Tommy Markham cup but he accepts that the team just kept getting better and better and . . . . as the year went on. And yet no-one, even in Roscommon, could have forecast just how the team's end-game would transpire. Did he anticipate the wonderous climax to the 2006 season? "No one expected us to win. But when we won the Connacht title, there was a huge explosion of interest in the team. "People were ringing you up and you'd see people turning up at training just to see how we were doing. It was great. " If someone had said to me in February after we got the hiding from Armagh that we would win the provincial title but get beaten after that, I'd have taken the offer with both hands!" Again, it seems, Dr. O'Donnell's degree in keeping feet on terra firma came into play, post-Galway. The 1-10 to 0-9 win over the Tribesboys was a thriller in late June and marked the time when Roscommon's odyssey to the pantheon of all-Ireland winners really kicked off. "We weren't allowed to lose the run of ourselves because Fergal had us back at training over the next 24 hours, getting us back focussed. "I remember him telling us that when you're losing, you're never as bad as you think but when you're winning, you're never as good as you think you are." Things went from good to very good thereafter as the new kids on the block shocked Mayo (0-12 to 0-9) in the provincial final with an inspired defence showing the way to ending a 14 year wait for a Connacht MFC title. It was sweet revenge for the heavy defeat wreaked on Ros' by Mayo in the corresponding fixture 12 months previous. "You couldn't say enough about the way the lads at the back played against Mayo. "It seemed like every game there was always one sector of the team or one individual who came good, rose to the challenge and inspired everybody," says David who, amazingly, didn't make the cut when the Roscommon panel in 2005 was cropped just prior to the provincial championship. All throughout their glorious campaign, there was never any fear of the team losing the run of themselves. The team-management's (Fergal O'Donnell and selectors Mark O'Dowd, Stephen Bohan and Declan Hoare) work on the mental and physical approach to going the distance certainly worked the oracle. As such, despite the brouhaha which surrounded the lads after their provincial title win, there was no element of complacency in the camp when Munster's surprise packets Tipperary came calling in the All-Ireland quarter-final which was played at Tullamore. "We could have taken the attitude that 'here were these lads coming with a bunch of hurleys' but the management reminded us that they had beaten Cork and that we needed to really tune into the challenge of beating them. "We had to be properly focussed. "That was the first game we went into that we weren't the underdogs but we kept our heads and got through it okay." Next up was Meath in Croke Park at the tail end of August. The Royals had demonstrated serious ambition and potential though. Emboldened by a half-dozen of players from the all-conquering St. Pat's, Navan college side, the Leinster lads were supposed to have just too much football nous and class for the Connacht upstarts. Shock, upon shock though came raining down on headquarters as Fergal's flying fellas romped home four points winners. It was time for cool heads once again. Again the players and management got their brains in gear and the campaign proceeded like clockwork on the back of a 1-10 to 0-9 win over the Royals. "That was the day the forwards really hit a purple patch with all of them getting on the scoresheet," David recalls. The team's resolve and never-say-die-spirit was manifest in their subsequent 0-15 to 0-15 draw with Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final. "I think our work rate and sense of togetherness really shone through when push came to shove against Kerry," David opines. David O'Gara's last gasp point levelled matters for the Connacht champions but the whole country seemed to feel that Roscommon had missed the boat. "We could have won it but we could have lost it too so we were happy enough with the draw," David, for his part, says. For the next day, the Roscommon think tank's work on the training field was to reap the ultimate dividend. The placement of kick-outs was worked upon to make sure that the ball was kept away from Kerry stars Paddy Currran and Tommy Walsh in particular as much as possible. Again a dream outcome was engineered. In front of around 15,000 Roscommon fans at Cusack Park in late September, the veil that had lain over Roscommon football for 51 years was lifted at long last. The 1-10 to 0-9 final scoreline prompted scenes of unbridled joy at Cusack Park for all in primrose and blue. David O'Gara's goal one minute into the second half helped greatly in doing the mother and father of all deeds for success-ravaged Ros'. "We improved every step of the way and produced our best stuff in the All-Ireland final which is what any team would want to do. "It's funny because all we set out to do at the start of the year was to be competitive," David assures us. One has grave doubts that Kerry and all the other teams Ros' put to the sword will see the funny side of it though! Roscommon's fairytale year No Roscommon football fan will ever forget the summer of 2006, the summer when an unheralded minor team managed by former county midfielder Fergal O'Donnell defied all the odds to end a 55-year wait for All-Ireland success. What a difference a year makes! From the lows of 2005 when the county was bedeviled by problems on-and-off the pitch, Roscommon has turned the corner spectacularly and it's all down to Fergal O'Donnell's all-conquering minor football team. September 24, 2006 will forever be regarded as a red-letter day for Roscommon GAA, the day when a 55-year wait for All-Ireland minor glory finally ended. No-one believed it was possible at the start of the year, not even Roscommon's inspirational manager Fergal O'Donnell who had seen his team suffer defeats to the likes of Fermanagh, Westmeath and Dublin in challenge matches. But in the games that really mattered, Roscommon were a team possessed. Making light of Roscommon's recent troubled history when financial problems and cases of indiscipline blackened the county's name, O'Donnell's young charges put the pride back in the famed primose and blue jersey with a series of brilliant displays which thrilled supporters and captured the imagination of GAA followers everywhere. No Roscommon fan will ever forget the scenes of unbridled joy which greeted the All-Ireland final replay victory over Kerry in Ennis, or the homecoming that night in Roscommon town when over 10,000 ecstatic fans braved the rain to welcome home their heroes with the Tom Markham Cup. Prior to this year, Roscommon had won three All-Ireland minor titles in 1939, '41 and '51. The victories in '39 and '41 laid the foundations for the county's two-in-a-row of All-Ireland senior triumphs in 1943 and '44, and while supporters are hoping that history will repeat itself over the next few years, Fergal O'Donnell was quick to warn that there is no guarantee that this year's success will follow through to the senior scene. "It's a great boost for the county, but it doesn't automatically mean that it will lead to a major breakthrough at senior level," stressed the 2001 Connacht championship winning captain. "Adequate structures are not yet in place in Roscommon, and there are lots of flaws and problems. Our underage structure would be miles behind the northern teams and Kerry. However, we now have a lot of bargaining power, and hopefully the county will respond favourably to this." Throughout their All-Ireland winning campaign, Roscommon showed themselves to be a hard working, resilient, skilful and clinical team. The word 'defeat' was simply not part of their vocabulary and never was this more in evidence than in the replay against Kerry when their sheer hunger and desire overwhelmed their heavily-fancied opponents in the final quarter. Without a Connacht minor championship win since 1992 and with no marquee names from the colleges scene, the expectations could hardly have been lower for Roscommon at the start of the campaign. But they constantly defied the odds, starting with the 1-10 to 0-9 victory over Galway in the Connacht semi-final. Galway opened the scoring through midfielder Paul Conroy before team captain David Flynn levelled for the primrose and blues. There was little to separate the sides for the remainder of the half with Conor Devaney's point giving Roscommon the narrowest of leads at the break. Ros' went three points clear after the break thanks to a brace of scores from Donal Shine, whose father of the same name managed the county senior side in the 1990s. The game's turning point came when Galway goalkeeper Adrian Flaherty inadvertently fumbled the ball into his own net. Fintan Cregg followed up with two quick points and there was no way back for the Tribesmen after that. Roscommon enjoyed a 0-12 to 0-9 victory over Mayo in the provincial final, a victory which was all the sweeter considering how Castlebar has been a graveyard for Roscommon teams in recent years. Mayo led by two points after the first quarter and they kept their noses in front until early in the second half when the visitors began to get on top. Unanswered points from Conor Devaney, Donal Shine, David Flynn and Colm Garvey sent them three clear before Mayo's Tom Parsons reduced the margin to two. But a late point from man of the match Shine saw Ros' prevail by 0-12 to 0-9. Beaten Munster finalists Tipperary proved no match for Roscommon in the All-Ireland quarter-final at Tullamore. The Connacht champions' passage into the last four was never in any doubt after Devaney converted a penalty just before half-time, and they eventually ran out comfortable winners on a 1-12 to 0-6 scoreline. Roscommon produced one of their best performances in their All-Ireland semi-final joust with Meath at Croke Park. The Royals had emerged from a very competitive Leinster championship and were strongly fancied to progress to the final. But the underdogs hadn't read the script and produced a stunning display to claim a 1-10 to 0-9 win. Meath applied strong pressure in the opening quarter. But they shot four wides in three minutes, whereas Roscommon scored two points from just two attacks, a pattern that was to be repeated throughout. Just as he had done against Tipperary, Conor Devaney kept a cool head to slot home a penalty as half-time approached, a score which helped the underdogs a 1-3 to 0-3 interval lead. Although Ciaran Lynch reduced the deficit after the break, the Connacht champions replied with four points per Paul Garvey (two), Fintan Cregg and Donal Shine to extend their lead to 1-7 to 0-4. Meath scored the next three points to set up a tense final 10 minutes, but Roscommon's superb team-work kept them at bay. And so, the scene was set for Roscommon GAA's biggest game since the 1980 All-Ireland senior final against Kerry. The Kingdom were once again Roscommon's opponents and were installed as hot favourites to end their own particular All-Ireland minor famine, which extends back to 1994. But despite falling 0-7 to 0-2 in arrears after 19 minutes, the Rossies never lost belief and fought back to earn a draw (0-15 apiece) in one of the best matches seen all year. The Connacht champions had reduced the deficit to two points by half-time, 0-8 to 0-6, thanks to a string of scores from Donal Shine (two), substitute Keith Waldron and Conor Devaney. Roscommon remained in the ascendancy following the restart and ran up five points without reply to take a three-point lead. Inspired by their towering midfielder Tommy Walsh, Kerry battled back and looked like breaking Roscommon hearts until David O'Gara popped up to score the equalizing point deep into injury-time. It was fitting that the same player should score the only goal in the replay six days later as Roscommon finally broke the Kingdom's resistance with a deserved 1-10 to 0-9 success. Over 15,000 Roscommon fans thronged Cusack Park in Ennis to witness a victory that was borne out of sheer guts and determination, and no little amount of skill. Although Kerry probably had the better individuals, they could have no complaints as Roscommon's greater work ethic enabled them to dominate the possession stakes. The underdogs were well on top in the early stages, but couldn't translate their possession into scores. Indeed, both sets of defences were in control in the wet conditions with the result that just two scores were registered in the first quarter. Paddy Curran opened the scoring for the Kingdom from a free in the third minute, only for the outstanding Donal Shine to reply with a point from a long-range free two minutes later. There was no further score until the 20th minute when Curran was again on target for Kerry. With Tommy Walsh and Eoin Kennedy kicking two excellent points, Kerry went on to lead by 0-5 to 0-4 at the break. The decisive score came immediately after half-time when Kerry 'keeper Tomas Mac an Tsaoir failed to deal with a Conor Devaney free, allowing O'Gara to finish to the net from close range. Devaney himself added a point to open up a three-point lead by the 38th minute. The Munster champions then enjoyed their best spell of the game with four points from Kennedy, Gary Sayers, Curran and Walsh edging them back in front by the 45th minute. But Walsh's effort was to be their last score as, for the first time over the two games, the Roscommon midfield pairing of David Keenan and Donie Shine gained the upper hand. With 10 minutes to go, Shine pointed a free and sub Alan O'Hara quickly followed up with the lead point. And despite hitting some terrible wides, Roscommon refused to be rattled and three more points from the masterful Shine put the issue beyond doubt. The game ended on a sour note when Kerry sub Jamie Doolan received a straight red card following a free-for-all in front of the Roscommon goal. But not even this could spoil the Roscommon celebrations. Roscommon - M Miley, P Domican, P Gleeson, S Ormsby, N Carty, D Flynn, C Garvey, D Keenan, D Shine 0-6, F Cregg 0-1, D O'Hara 1-1, C Devaney 0-1, P Garvey, J McKeague, K Waldron. Subs: C McHugh for McKeague, A O'Hara 0-1 for P Garvey One for the future It was rebuilding time in Roscommon football circles in 2006. Corner-back Seanie McDermott proved one of team-manager John Maughan's more solid building blocks. Though the scene had all the makings of a prologue for a dream trip abroad, there was to be no Boston tea party for Sean McDermott. In the 22 minutes he spent on the bench watching Roscommon's last hurrah in 2006, a dream trip Stateside seemed about as tangible as a mirage meandering just above an Massachusettes freeway. There would be no tea across the Atlantic for the Western Gaels star but plenty of food for thought as he prepared to head home from Kingspan/Breffni Park. Roscommon's dramatic defeat to Cavan in the Tommy Murphy Cup ensured there would be no encore for John Maughan's men for the rest of the summer. On a balmy Tuesday evening in late July, Roscommon came, saw but were conquered by hosts Cavan on the back of a 0-14 to 2-12 scoreline. In shooting himself in the foot in the 51st minute by picking up his second yellow card of the evening, up and coming Roscommon senior countyman McDermott was left to kick his heels on the bench. All he could do in the hours that followed his journey back to the west was resign himself to putting down his second yellow card to experience. His marking job on Cavan's lightning quick left corner-forward Sean Johnston would be one he wouldn't forget in a hurry. How would he fancy playing in the Tommy Murphy Cup again then? "Obviously you'd wish Roscommon weren't one of the qualifying counties for the competition because being illegible speaks volumes for the record your county has had over the years. "But we're part of the bunch that qualifies so next time around if we're back in it, I'll play to the best of my ability because that's what you want to do when you pull on a Roscommon jersey," the gritty defender explains. After the heady days that had just gone passed in the Connacht SFC and the All-Ireland qualifiers, surely the Tommy Murphy Cup must have been a right irritant even to someone so obviously passionate and keen on pulling on the county jersey? "I have to admit it was fairly hard for me personally - and I'm sure most of the lads would be the same - to get motivated for the Cavan game but we looked forward to it and saw it as a chance to ressurrect the year for us. "I know the competition has its knockers and counties have to take part in it or else face a big fine, but I think it has it's worth. "For younger players, especially, the Tommy Murphy Cup is a useful competition because it's a chance for them to find their feet at inter-county level. "Even though it might be restricted to so-called weaker counties, I think, prestige-wise, it will develop as the years go on. "It's at least worth persevering with," the approachable senior county star opines. After yet another year of unfulfilled promise, it's obvious that Roscommon's football think tank will have to persevere with the Class of 2006 if the rehabilitation of Roscommon football is to continue. And, certainly, while things went badly pear-shaped for McDermott and Co. the longer the 2006 season went on, the county's standing has leaped skywards compared to it's rating after a horrific year on and off the pitch in 2005. The omens weren't good for the primrose and blue last April though. Roscommon needed a win in their final Division 2A game at Dr. Hyde Park last April against Donegal to secure their passage to Division One next season but fluffed their lines. Sean agrees that in losing out by 1-9 to 0-14 the homesters had no-one to blame but themselves. "There was no real hard luck story about what happened on the day and, to be fair, John Rogers' goal late on for us only put a bit more respectability on the scoreline. "They were the better team and it was down to us that we lost out on promotion - we blew it," he recalls. As it happened, Donegal were joined by Limerick in the lift taking the best of the bunch to the premier division for 2006. A pointer to the season overall then? "I think so," Sean accepts. No more than the league, it was a case of 'could have done better' in the championship as well. "A bit like my old school report," Sean quips. "We had fairly high hopes that we could make a bit of an impression this year and I think our display against Galway in the championship showed us up in a more real light than anything that went before in the national league or afterwards in the qualifiers or Tommy Murphy Cup." Those "fairly high hopes" at the start of the year had new county boss John Maughan perhaps feeling he had something to work upon. But Maughan knew that getting the best out of players like Sean McDermott and getting them feeling good about themselves was key to a successful maiden voyage with his fellow Connachtmen. "Restoring the players' confidence and maximising their ability will be our priority," Maughan declared last spring as his objective in 2006. So how was young McDermott's confidence and did he play to the best of his ability? "I felt confident enough; nervous most of the time but not overly so. "I was happy enough with my performances but I'm not sure I played to the maximum of my ability all the time. "2006 was my first real season with the team and with the team being in a bit of transition, I never thought things weren't going to go completely smooth." While Roscommon suffered a setback in the league by missing out on promotion, Seanie says there was a quiet confidence in the camp that a sound Connacht championship win over New York in Gaelic Park would be a tide that would lift all boats. He himself was aware that the last time Roscommon beat New York in the opening round of the provincial championship, the county went onto win the Connacht title. Five days training in the Catskill Mountains ensued prior to the clash with the Big Apple and nearly 2,000 Roscommon fans saluted the team thereafter as they tip-toed around one hell of a banana skin. "It was a game that we couldn't win, no matter what way it went," Sean opines. "At the end of the day, it was a means to an end. It was the same as playing the likes of London, you have everything to lose but we got through it." One of the stars of the hugely successful Sigerson Cup-winning Sligo IT teams of recent vintage, the now 22 year old defender says the experience gained in playing colleges' football at the highest level helped prepare him for life in the really fast lane at inter-county level. "When you're playing and beating the likes of UCD, UCC and Queens, it gives you great confidence in your own belief and also helps you bridge the gap between the standard of football at club level and that at inter-county level. "The Sigerson Cup is a top class competition and most of the lads that are playing in the successful college teams are already inter-county players so you're coming up against quality all the time. "In that sense, I wasn't going in at the deep end in the game against New York." Winner of a Roscommon intermediate championship medal in 2004 with his club and subsequently part of the Western Gaels side that scooped the Connacht JFC title later that same year, Sean has shown his mettle on quite a few stages in quite a few arenas and has seldom been found wanting. Collectively though, Roscommon have been found wanting. Against Galway in this year's Connacht SFC semi-final, a morale victory was all that was forthcoming. But as Sean reminds us, with injuries to Stephen Lohan and Karol Mannion upset the structure of the team. Joined on the outgoing Roscommon senior panel by John Nolan and Cathal Cregg, the bold Sean reckons that few would argue with the view right now that Roscommon have "tidied" up their act in 2006 with positive advances made as regards discipline, a desire among everyone to pull together and an uplifting of ambition. "People in Roscommon have high expectations though and you'll still get supporters coming up to you and reminding you how we threw it away against Galway. "You get fellas telling you that we were by far the better team against Galway but maybe that was only in the first half, I don't know. "We were caught badly on the hop at the start of the second half but we've only ourselves to blame. "It's not as if we weren't expecting them to come at us very strongly after half-time," says the man charged with marking Michael Meehan in the penultimate round, provincial championship clash. Thereafter the qualifiers did morale in Roscommon not a lot of good with Meath serving up the guillotine. "We flopped against Meath - there's no other way to describe our performance. "Like the rest of our results in 2006, it's a game that has been resigned to the past and we have to look forward. "Hopefully next year will see a change in our fortunes. "We have some good minors and under 21s coming through and we'll see what they can add to the mix." Minor win delights Roscommon's Burke Roscommon is a county steeped in GAA history and this year's All-Ireland win brought joy to all in the county, especially local auctioneer Padraig Burke. Padraig is no stranger to supporting the GAA and has not been afraid to put his hand in his pocket to help out with local club Roscommon Gaels with sponsorship. With sons Wesley and Conan involved on the playing side with the Roscommon town club, Padraig has a huge interest in Gaelic games. It was a great time to be a Roscommon GAA supporter in 2006 as Fergal O'Donnell's minor side swept the best of the rest aside to claim the All-Ireland crown. Big names such as Mayo, Meath and Kerry were no match for the young Rossies, who brought a new sense of pride to the county. Like all in the western county, Padraig was delighted with the win and especially proud that his own clubman O'Donnell was the manager with the Midas touch. Away from GAA Padraig is kept busy with his auctioneering firm Sherry Fitzgerald P Burke. Sherry Fitzgerald are recognised as leading auctioneers, valuers and estate agents. The company specialise in new and second hand residential sales, land sales, commercial property, lettings, valuations and foreign properties. Padraig is broker/owner of the Roscommon office which is located on Goff Street. Tweet

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