NFL Division 4 2011

[Rossfan]

Bad news about Cathal alright.
Has the shine worn of Jimmy G ?
He was everyone's favourite for County Senior manager some time ago.
I was roundly abused by one  Ros GAA person for standing up for Fergal last April after we were relegated.
He reckoned Jimmy was the man and should be appointed Senior manager immediately after the Seniors would lose to Laythrum in Summer 2010. 
Ah well ... it's a funny oul world all the same 

[ross matt]

Bad news about Cathal alright.
Has the shine worn of Jimmy G ?
He was everyone's favourite for County Senior manager some time ago.
I was roundly abused by one  Ros GAA person for standing up for Fergal last April after we were relegated.
He reckoned Jimmy was the man and should be appointed Senior manager immediately after the Seniors would lose to Laythrum in Summer 2010. 
Ah well ... it's a funny oul world all the same 

In fairness to Gacquinn it was a provincial final and Cathal Shine was his best player so if he was half right he probably had to play him. Management wise he was slow to make changes Saturday. Left Oates too long on Duane.... brought on too very effective subs much too late in the match and considering how well they played you'd wonder why they were'nt started. Tactically there was no plan other than try lump in to Shine. Preparation wise his team lacked physical conditioning. Pushed aside by Galway and didnt have the legs to track the Galway runners. However he had success with Longford and won u-21 with Ross last year as well as beating Mayo this year so its unfair to judge him on Saturday alone.

[ross4life]

Roscommon team to play leitrim on Sunday

Geoffrey Claffey

Niall Carty
Peter Domican
Stephen Ormsby

Seán Purcell
Cathal Dineen
James McKeague

Seamus O'Neill
Kevin Higgins

Senan O'Grady
Conor Devanney
Cathal Cregg

Senan Kilbride
Karl Mannion
Donie Shine

Very strong team maybe close to the line up V New york? must be one of the tallest FF lines ever?

[Billys Boots]

Longford 8 up with ten left, apparently.  Scallionaters down to 14.

[Billys Boots]

Longford 8 up with ten left, apparently.  Scallionaters down to 14.

Final Score: Longford 1-21 Carlow 1-12. 

Longford promoted, you lovely Larries. 

[ross4life]

Decent dead rubber game in Hyde park today, Lacklustre display from us, though thats expected having already secured promotion

Leitrim will probably be wondering how they didn't get something out of the game but in the end the subs (in particular Enda Kenny) won the game for us.

Was very impressed with Senan Kilbride,Conor Devaney & the cameo appearance from Enda Kenny.

7 wins in row to finish the league campaign it's a long time since i witnessed that.

But the day belongs to our neighbours Longford, Well done guys looking foward to easter saturday final & of course playing ye in Divsion 3 next year.

[Shamrock Shore]

dead rubber game

Jayses - Willie Hegarty made it out to be the All Ireland final. In fairness to Shannonside they seemed to favour the Longford match.

Looking forward to life in Div 3 and, of more immediate concern, the Div 4 final v The Rossies.

At least we lads get to Croke Park before the Queen. Proper order too!

[spectator]

Entertaining local derby game against our neighbours even if it wasn't exactly played at full tilt... or an All-Ireland Final

We played with the breeze in the first half and went point for point with the Laythrumites for the first twenty minutes or so, which resulted in both sides being evenly matched at 4 - 4 twenty minutes in. Big Seamie was making his presence felt in the middle, while Senan was central to everything positive in the FF line. Already having two points to his name, Senan produced a quickfire trio of points off both feet and along with a nice effort from distance by Shaq, this saw us open up a 4 lead by the half hour. Leitrim however are renowned for never ever throwing in the towel when facing The Ros, and thus it came as no surprise to see them respond with a purple patch before HT which produced points from Emlyn Mulligan (2f), Conor Sheridan and Daniel Lowe to leave the minimum between the sides at the break; Ros 0.9 Leitrim 0.8.

Ros were quick out of the blocks in the second half with a Dev point, but Leitrim replied through impressive midfielder Tomás Beirne and corner forward Conor Beirne to level matters again. Taking advantage of their momentum they added points from Mulligan (f) and Adrian Croal (his third of the day) to take a two point lead. Ros however saw the raiding Cathal Cregg fouled 45m out - not for the first time - Dev found Senan with a resulting short free, he released Keving Higgins and the Western Gaels man sprinted through the centre before burying the ball low past the Leitrim goalie to regain the lead for Ros. 1.10 - 0.12. Mulligan restored parity from play only to see Donie Shine and Dev add a brace of their own to put Ros ahead by two again. Fergal O'Donnell was emptying his bench at this stage, as Mulligan (his 7th point of the day) and Croal (his 4th ) brought Leitrim back level with about five minutes remaining. Crucially though, one of Fergal's introductions Enda Kenny was winning great ball in midfield and when he kicked a mighty point from distance to regain the lead for Ros late on, time was running out for Leitrim. Dev sensibly added a point in injury time when a goal was a distinct possibility. Two points down and the sand almost gone from the egg timer, Leitrim had a late free from which the excellent Mulligan had little option but to drop into the danger area. Sub Michael Finneran, guarding the Ros goal line, made it his own and Ros were safe. Ros Scorers: Senan 5, Dev 4, KH 1.1, MR 1, Donie 1, Shaq 1, EK 1.  Leitrim Scorers: Emlyn Mulligan 7 (6f), Adrian Croal 4(1f), Conor Sheridan 1, Daniel Lowe 1, Tomás Beirne 1.  Ros Wides 9, Leitrim Wides 8.

[ross matt]

Entertaining local derby game against our neighbours even if it wasn't exactly played at full tilt... or an All-Ireland Final

We played with the breeze in the first half and went point for point with the Laythrumites for the first twenty minutes or so, which resulted in both sides being evenly matched at 4 - 4 twenty minutes in. Big Seamie was making his presence felt in the middle, while Senan was central to everything positive in the FF line. Already having two points to his name, Senan produced a quickfire trio of points off both feet and along with a nice effort from distance by Shaq, this saw us open up a 4 lead by the half hour. Leitrim however are renowned for never ever throwing in the towel when facing The Ros, and thus it came as no surprise to see them respond with a purple patch before HT which produced points from Emlyn Mulligan (2f), Conor Sheridan and Daniel Lowe to leave the minimum between the sides at the break; Ros 0.9 Leitrim 0.8.

Ros were quick out of the blocks in the second half with a Dev point, but Leitrim replied through impressive midfielder Tomás Beirne and corner forward Conor Beirne to level matters again. Taking advantage of their momentum they added points from Mulligan (f) and Adrian Croal (his third of the day) to take a two point lead. Ros however saw the raiding Cathal Cregg fouled 45m out - not for the first time - Dev found Senan with a resulting short free, he released Keving Higgins and the Western Gaels man sprinted through the centre before burying the ball low past the Leitrim goalie to regain the lead for Ros. 1.10 - 0.12. Mulligan restored parity from play only to see Donie Shine and Dev add a brace of their own to put Ros ahead by two again. Fergal O'Donnell was emptying his bench at this stage, as Mulligan (his 7th point of the day) and Croal (his 4th ) brought Leitrim back level with about five minutes remaining. Crucially though, one of Fergal's introductions Enda Kenny was winning great ball in midfield and when he kicked a mighty point from distance to regain the lead for Ros late on, time was running out for Leitrim. Dev sensibly added a point in injury time when a goal was a distinct possibility. Two points down and the sand almost gone from the egg timer, Leitrim had a late free from which the excellent Mulligan had little option but to drop into the danger area. Sub Michael Finneran, guarding the Ros goal line, made it his own and Ros were safe. Ros Scorers: Senan 5, Dev 4, KH 1.1, MR 1, Donie 1, Shaq 1, EK 1.  Leitrim Scorers: Emlyn Mulligan 7 (6f), Adrian Croal 4(1f), Conor Sheridan 1, Daniel Lowe 1, Tomás Beirne 1.  Ros Wides 9, Leitrim Wides 8.

Fair play to you Spectator. Great detailed report as usual. Delighted for Fergie. Typcial of his character he has experienced the best and worst of times in his managerial career but remained focussed on longterm progress throughout. Last year's provincial title and promotion from division 4 are the markers so far. By winning all but one (draw) in this years league without using Brigids lads or u-21s for alot of it he has given valuable game time experience to others and as a result now has options for many positions. O'Neill's comeback will be interesting if he can continue to build on his fitness etc towards championship time.

[panc56]

Well done Longford, it was a nervy experience over the last few games but fair play they did the job in style on Sunday. Carlow though have the worst defence that I've seen in the long time.
Div4 final in Croke Park should be a hum-dinger and a great extra game pre-championship. Mind you our LSFc voyage could be short lived - Laois getting promoted yesterday will leave them full of confidence.
Div3 next year will be a step up but there doesn't seem to be any outstanding team in it either. The ideal place though for LD to blood some of the coming talent from the minors & U-21's.

Well done Glen Ryan , Padraig Davis, John Fay & Liam Keenan.

[Shamrock Shore]

What a day we have in store as Roscommon, Longford, Westmeath and Louth head to Croker on Easter Saturday

I assume we're the 'warm-up' match.

It'll hardly be a sell-out. Will there be 12,000 there? Less? Should it be in, say Portlaoise or Breffni to get a better atmosphere? Perhaps not as Ros and Longford and Westmeath and Louth aren't exactly wearing out the mat on the front door of Croke Park.

Rossies will be slight favourites at throw in. But Longford will not be cannon fodder for this. Gladly the team shot few wides yesterday as opposed to the 32 wides in the previous 2 games so I am hopeful of a good outcome.

Bridges at Lanesboro and Tarmonbarry will be armed with stone throwers. Getting advice from Meath men in their duels with Cavan.

[Onlooker]

Surely the big story of Division 4 over the last 4 years has been the continued failure of Wicklow to get promotion any year. Since 2008, Offaly, Tipperary, Antrim, Sligo, Limerick, Waterford, Roscommon and Longford have all won promotion.  Limerick and Waterford are now back in Div. 4, but Wicklow have never managed to a promotion.  We all know that Micko claims to have no interest in the league, but this year's league (all 4 Divs.) has been outstanding and I know that a lot of Wicklow supporters are very unhappy at being stuck in the bottom division for another year.

[ross4life]

It'll hardly be a sell-out. Will there be 12,000 there? Less? Should it be in, say Portlaoise or Breffni to get a better atmosphere? Perhaps not as Ros and Longford and Westmeath and Louth aren't exactly wearing out the mat on the front door of Croke Park.

Would be a better atmosphere somewhere else but certainly not Breffni as us rossies have bad memories there 

Last year the Div 4 final was on at 5pm & the Div 3 final had a 7pm throw in

[ross4life]

Division 4 Final confirmed for Croke Park on Easter Saturday at 5pm

[Croí na hÉireann]

Division 4 Final confirmed for Croke Park on Easter Saturday at 5pm

Where do u see that? Is Div 3 on at 7?