Fermanagh v Roscommon

[yellowcard]

I thought McGrath was a strange choice for both Fermanagh and himself but he has done a helluva job there with limited resources. In a week where McCorrys job could be under threat in Down its ironic to see a double AI winner achieving much more with inferior players.

[Throw ball]

You wouldn't write one of those essays for Armagh supporters!

[screenexile]

Not being funny but when is the last time the Rossies were a top 8 team?

I'm following football over 20 years and can't remember it!!

[larryin89]

Not being funny but when is the last time the Rossies were a top 8 team?

I'm following football over 20 years and can't remember it!!

They are still romancing about 1980, not well in the head man. If ever a county wanted a reality check,nobody wants to be hurtful but for crying out loud man it's comical.

[tintin25]

What a comeback! In fairness, Roscommon shouldn't have blown a 5pt lead and they probably would have scored a goal themselves but for a drag down by the Fermanagh defender when they were through on goal about 10 mi s from the end. That said, Fermanagh cleaned up at midfield and showed plenty of heart at the end to kick the vital scores.

[Teo Lurley]

Roscommon showed up in Portlaoise earlier in the year and their supporters had an arrogant attitude beforehand. They were acting like it was an honour for all of us to see the new superstars of Gaelic football live in action. Well we went on to win by 7 points and Laois are useless! Has there ever been a team that's done so little get hyped up so much?

[ExiledGael]

Delighted for the more unheralded players in Fermanagh team today. Quigley had a bit of an off day, though it's maybe excusable after a serious shoulder in the face in the first half. You can almost tell what sort of a day he's going to have after first few efforts though. Today they didn't go his way.
But behind him the likes of Tiarnan Daly at full-back and Mick Cassidy were superb in defence. Mick scored two points and took one for team with black card, would have been a one on one goal chance. Cynical, but there's not an adult team in the country who wouldn't want that done. Treacy's kick-outs were excellent and O'Callaghan/Donnelly and Jones lorded the middle. Can never recall Fermanagh dominating a midfield sector as much. Would love to know exact stats. Roscommon wiped out there but for over an hour their greater ability to kick scores was difference, Cregg and Shine scored a few beauties.
As usual we just couldn't convert possession into scores, until the penalty and late flurry to win it. Was too far away from penalty to see it properly but I was certainly appealing from a distance. On referee, I thought he had a reasonable game. McCluskey maybe lucky not to see black for a trip but I don't think it was cynical, he was just done by a solo dummy. The officials were not the deciding factor in the game, that's for sure. I'm not quite sure what was though.
We have swathes of heart and determination and a few very good footballers in certain areas who all know their job and do anything for the manager and team - very often at the expense of their own game. Quigley was taken off the frees by McGrath towards the end of the first half and could have thrown the head up. Instead he stuck to his guns, even when nothing was working and I'm delighted he got some reward for perseverance in the end. Summed up the attitude that got us over the line. Somehow.

Btw, I can't be accused of letting late flurry of scores affect my views on game in general as I had to leave before finish. Gutted.
I'll get another day, however. 

[joemamas]

Hopefully Des and crew can reduce the verbal diarrhea this evening and show some decent highlights of this and other qualifiers, not just the games that most people have already watched.

[Farrandeelin]

Fair play Syf, that was written from the heart no doubt. Even as an outsider looking in, I had a slight feeling Ros would be flat today. But it wasn't until late on the fizz went out today or so it seems. Evans was wrong to say what he said after winning Div 2, but he wanted amvition, as you said yourself.

[mad tan]

Well done Fermanagh. The Rossies do think they are better than they are. Its going to be a long summer. Wonder will they make changes to their back room staff?

[Wildweasel74]

Roscommon Top 8? Fermanagh barely a top 8 in Ulster!

[Blowitupref]

Not being funny but when is the last time the Rossies were a top 8 team?

I'm following football over 20 years and can't remember it!!

They were established division one team from about 1999 to 2003 from what i recall. On this summer results they have a long way to go to reach the top 8 but you never know with a new manager.

[Put Up That Flag]

Supporting Roscommon is a journey that's defined by exhilarating highs and depressing lows, more so than almost any other county. Depending on the year we can be playing NFL matches in Ruslip or Killarney, bouncing from D4 to D1 and back again.

You're never really sure how good you are. The bigger counties have that too but it usually boils down to 'where in the top eight are we?'. The wild variance we can have nearly gives you whiplash.

This year was so strange. That variance in level was happening between games. Even in the FBD we slumped to a loss to NUIG in our first semi-competitive game of year before barely beating IT Sligo and then completely outplaying Mayo to make an FBD final that we needed to beat Mayo by a large margin to even feature in. And we beat Galway handy, scoring four excellent goals in the process. The big two beaten, but in January. Fine. Bigger fish to deal with now.

Then the real league. Cavan at home in frosty Kiltoom in early Feburary. Billed as a game between the two D3 refugees where a home win was near essential to our hopes of staying up. Couldn't kick our frees that day and McKiernan almost made us pay the full price for turning up so groggy. Then we went to Newry and beat probably the most fancied team in the division in what was on paper our hardest game in the league. How? How did we go from limping around Kiltoom to relatively easily beating a confident Down team? I still don't know.

Then we had a four week break till the Laois game, a winless team when we arrived in Portlaoise. We should have this one, we thought. Wrong.

Evans put it down to not coping well with the long break, extended by the postponement of the Meath game the previous week. Yeah, alright, let's see if the 'rust' isn't there the next day. We crush Kildare in Newbridge despite trailing by four or five in the first half. An incredible second half has everyone buzzing again. And we back it up with a gritty win at home against Meath - wow, we might be starting to become consistent we thought.

Then the Galway game. Galway were being chased by the spectre of D3 while we knew a win would put us in pole position for D1 football in 2016. Abject performance. Mullingar and Westmeath the next week brings a more positive result but we missed so many wides that day and needed our U21s, less than a day removed from winning the Connacht U21 final. Not exactly an assured way to put a limited side but fück it, we're in D1!

Then the D2 league final. Down apparently out for revenge. We handle them much the same way as we did up in Newry. A bit of silverware, what's wrong with that?

So heading into a championship with a favourable draw and D2 won hieghtens expectations. Not as high as outsiders unable to read what John Evans' said, but certainly higher than usual. Sluggish against London, but that game is always a bit of carnival and a lot of Conmacht teams have went over and not looked brilliant.

But then it became impossible to ignore in Markievicz Park. Not only losing but looking foolish and unready. Passes to no one, no fluency to our play. A D1 team losing out to a D3 team threatened by relegation to D4 this year. Really? What are we doing? Are we going forward or backwards?

Last week we were battered. Lots of key players injured and facing a Cavan team that owed us about five beatings at this stage. I was worried about how damaged we'd be mentally after the Aligo game too. And we go out and look determined and skillful, far from perfect but evidence that the expectations were not simply unfounded.

And the draw. A favourable draw, again. Beating Fermanagh isn't an impossible task. And hey, do that and maybe we get Westmeath and find ourselves in Croker in August. Then we can really tell Eamonn O'Hara to fûck off back to the tanning booth.

But no. Just as expectation and a bit of belief creeped into the season we ground to a sreeching halt, this time in our most specular fashion yet, an implosion worthy of the 12th of July.

Just like the first Cavan game, the Galway game with promotion on the line, just like in Markievicz when Mayo and a Connacht final beckoned. Expectation equals a loss for us.

The manner would be maddening today without that perspective, but for anyone who has followed Roscommon this year knows there was an inglorious consistency to what happened in Brewster Park. Where we go from here is anyone's guess. Evans' head is back on the chopping block. Maybe he should go, maybe he shouldn't. The only certainty we have now is uncertainty.

What I do know is we are going no where until our psyche changes. Small county with a small mentality. Evans understood that which is why he tried to introduce ambition into the mix. It worked in the league when we got second chances but not in the championship where consistent application is a nessciety.

2015. Probably the strangest year following Roscommon football in my lifetime.

And finally, congratulations to Fermanagh. Great comeback and you'd have had no need for it if Quigley was on form from placed balls. Rarely met as genuine supporters at a match as the Fermanagh supporters. Really exceptional attitude and I hope they make the AIQFs, it would light up the 2015 championship.

Yeah........anyway,  have you your Mayo jersey ready for next week,  I expect you are firmly back on the mayo bandwagon now, getting ready to hear lots of in depth analysis about the bears, Cillian and of course your hero Andy

[redzone]

Delighted for the more unheralded players in Fermanagh team today. Quigley had a bit of an off day, though it's maybe excusable after a serious shoulder in the face in the first half. You can almost tell what sort of a day he's going to have after first few efforts though. Today they didn't go his way.
But behind him the likes of Tiarnan Daly at full-back and Mick Cassidy were superb in defence. Mick scored two points and took one for team with black card, would have been a one on one goal chance. Cynical, but there's not an adult team in the country who wouldn't want that done. Treacy's kick-outs were excellent and O'Callaghan/Donnelly and Jones lorded the middle. Can never recall Fermanagh dominating a midfield sector as much. Would love to know exact stats. Roscommon wiped out there but for over an hour their greater ability to kick scores was difference, Cregg and Shine scored a few beauties.
As usual we just couldn't convert possession into scores, until the penalty and late flurry to win it. Was too far away from penalty to see it properly but I was certainly appealing from a distance. On referee, I thought he had a reasonable game. McCluskey maybe lucky not to see black for a trip but I don't think it was cynical, he was just done by a solo dummy. The officials were not the deciding factor in the game, that's for sure. I'm not quite sure what was though.
We have swathes of heart and determination and a few very good footballers in certain areas who all know their job and do anything for the manager and team - very often at the expense of their own game. Quigley was taken off the frees by McGrath towards the end of the first half and could have thrown the head up. Instead he stuck to his guns, even when nothing was working and I'm delighted he got some reward for perseverance in the end. Summed up the attitude that got us over the line. Somehow.

Btw, I can't be accused of letting late flurry of scores affect my views on game in general as I had to leave before finish. Gutted.
I'll get another day, however. 

Is he not Niall Cassidy not Micky. Anyway fair play to Pete McGrath a genuine football man. Just shows its all about teamwork and not the individual, seamie quiqley take note.

[ExiledGael]

Yes Niall, known as 'Mick' locally.