Roscommon vs. Letrim Connacht SFC QF, 18th May 2014

[Collie Brolly]

We should win by around 6 points.Nothing to be gained from kicking the lard out of Leitrim and thinking we are world beaters.
What we need and what we will get imo is a serious test.
For what it's worth here should be the starting 15-

O Malley
Seanie mc Carty Collins
Keenan Daly Caff
  Higgins Cathal S
O Gara Donie Enda S(lucky boy to be on it)
D Murtagh Cregger Senan

[Blowitupref]

What a load of nonsense Syferus your last line or thereabouts is there, " a few championship wins, a win against laythrum " blah blah blady blah.

If you beat Mayo, your era begins , if you don't , it's back to next year already. Sin e.

This Roscommon side just out of div 3 they are hardly at a stage where they are capable of beating arguably the 2nd best side in Ireland. A win against Leitrim on Sunday and a few wins in the qualifiers will be a welcome bonus.  The higher Roscommon rise in the league and more championship games they win the more chance they have of fulfilling their potential.

[muppet]

What a load of nonsense Syferus your last line or thereabouts is there, " a few championship wins, a win against laythrum " blah blah blady blah.

If you beat Mayo, your era begins , if you don't , it's back to next year already. Sin e.

This Roscommon side just out of div 3 they are hardly at a stage where they are capable of beating arguably the 2nd best side in Ireland. A win against Leitrim on Sunday and a few wins in the qualifiers will be a welcome bonus.  The higher Roscommon rise in the league and more championship games they win the more chance they have of fulfilling their potential.

That was us in early 1996.

[Blowitupref]

What a load of nonsense Syferus your last line or thereabouts is there, " a few championship wins, a win against laythrum " blah blah blady blah.

If you beat Mayo, your era begins , if you don't , it's back to next year already. Sin e.

This Roscommon side just out of div 3 they are hardly at a stage where they are capable of beating arguably the 2nd best side in Ireland. A win against Leitrim on Sunday and a few wins in the qualifiers will be a welcome bonus.  The higher Roscommon rise in the league and more championship games they win the more chance they have of fulfilling their potential.

That was us in early 1996.

How many years did Mayo play div 3 football back then?

[muppet]

What a load of nonsense Syferus your last line or thereabouts is there, " a few championship wins, a win against laythrum " blah blah blady blah.

If you beat Mayo, your era begins , if you don't , it's back to next year already. Sin e.

This Roscommon side just out of div 3 they are hardly at a stage where they are capable of beating arguably the 2nd best side in Ireland. A win against Leitrim on Sunday and a few wins in the qualifiers will be a welcome bonus.  The higher Roscommon rise in the league and more championship games they win the more chance they have of fulfilling their potential.

That was us in early 1996.

How many years did Mayo play div 3 football?

They let you out if you win it, no matter how many years you are in it. 

[seafoid]

What a load of nonsense Syferus your last line or thereabouts is there, " a few championship wins, a win against laythrum " blah blah blady blah.

If you beat Mayo, your era begins , if you don't , it's back to next year already. Sin e.

This Roscommon side just out of div 3 they are hardly at a stage where they are capable of beating arguably the 2nd best side in Ireland. A win against Leitrim on Sunday and a few wins in the qualifiers will be a welcome bonus.  The higher Roscommon rise in the league and more championship games they win the more chance they have of fulfilling their potential.

they'll probably be beaten by armagh in round 1 of the qfs

[Captain Obvious]

They let you out if you win it, no matter how many years you are in it. 

You will get out straight away if its a level below you, Monaghan prime example of this. I'm open to correction but i think the league in nineties was more groups put together than anything else and all teams had the chance to win one league title.

they'll probably be beaten by armagh in round 1 of the qfs

If paired together Armagh will be seeking revenge for the defeat two years ago.

[Syferus]

They let you out if you win it, no matter how many years you are in it. 

You will get out straight away if its a level below you, Monaghan prime example of this. I'm open to correction but i think the league in nineties was more groups put together than anything else and all teams had the chance to win one league title.

they'll probably be beaten by armagh in round 1 of the qfs

If paired together Armagh will be seeking revenge for the defeat two years ago.

After the shite Armagh - literally - pulled last year we'd be the ones seeking revenge.

[Shrewdness]

Read somewhere today that if this match finishes level after 70 mins, there will be extra time played. Is that correct?

[Rossfan]

Doubt it.

[adevvabr]

I think if Leitrim play very defensive they could cause Roscommon a few problems and make this a tight match. Roscommon looked clueless trying to break down Cavan in the first half of the league final, they also lack creativity in their half forward line and midfield. They seem very naive in how they approach the game under Evans and I'm sure Mulligan will try and match up on Niall Daly at centre back as he is a defensive liability.

However if they don't drop men back in front of the Roscommon full forward line, Kilbride and Murtagh will have a field day and it'll be a 10 point win for Roscommon.

[Syferus]

I think if Leitrim play very defensive they could cause Roscommon a few problems and make this a tight match. Roscommon looked clueless trying to break down Cavan in the first half of the league final, they also lack creativity in their half forward line and midfield. They seem very naive in how they approach the game under Evans and I'm sure Mulligan will try and match up on Niall Daly at centre back as he is a defensive liability.

However if they don't drop men back in front of the Roscommon full forward line, Kilbride and Murtagh will have a field day and it'll be a 10 point win for Roscommon.

Evans is many things but naive is not one of them. He's completely willing to be cynical when the need arises. No need for it on Sunday, though.

[45GoneShort]

Interesting game ahead on Sunday from a Leitrim point of view.   

Compared to how Leitrim finished up in 2013 against Armagh, alot of issues came to a head which left Leitrirm very vulnerable to a ruthless Armagh side.  Leitrim are in a very healthy place at the moment compared to the shambles that finished off 2013 all down to some poorly judged decisions which i'm sure people involved in hindsight would have done differently given the chance.   Great credit must go to Sean Hagan who has healed a lot of division within the Leitrim setup.  At the end of last Summer I didn't see how the guys who were dropped would bother throwing their lot back in with the county.  But fair play to the entire squad for burying the hatchet and getting on with it.

I don't expect us to win on Sunday but as usual I do expect us to match Roscommon over the first half of the game.  The real weak sector for Leitrim is the midfield, expect a lot of short Leitrim kick outs, which leads to the Leitrim running game from deep which we've played over the last few years.  While effective against off the pace teams in the early league it does take it's toll on the team towards the last 15/20mins of the game.  Mulligan has been brilliant to watch during this years league but I don't expect him to get too much time on the ball on Sunday as when he is let get his head up on the ball he is easily one of the best passers of ball in the country over 40 yards, great for any forward who prefers the ball on the chest! 

The recent reintroduction of Conor Beirne to the squad is real plus for Leitrim, he pretty much dragged his club Eslin to an Intermediate final last year which necessitated 3 men being deployed to man mark him for the entire final, which I've never seen before at any level of the game but he still came away with the man of the match award!!  If we're to pull off a shock win then Conor will need to put in a big performance.

The probable team on Sunday:
Cathal McCrann
Barry Prior  Donal Wrynn  Paddy Maguire
Paul Brennan Gary Reynolds  Wayne McKeon
Darren Sweeney Damien Moran
Kevin Conlan  Emlyn Mulligan  Gerry Hickey
Daniel Lowe  Conor Beirne  Ray Cox 

[adevvabr]

I think if Leitrim play very defensive they could cause Roscommon a few problems and make this a tight match. Roscommon looked clueless trying to break down Cavan in the first half of the league final, they also lack creativity in their half forward line and midfield. They seem very naive in how they approach the game under Evans and I'm sure Mulligan will try and match up on Niall Daly at centre back as he is a defensive liability.

However if they don't drop men back in front of the Roscommon full forward line, Kilbride and Murtagh will have a field day and it'll be a 10 point win for Roscommon.

Evans is many things but naive is not one of them. He's completely willing to be cynical when the need arises. No need for it on Sunday, though.

I think Roscommons naivety was fairly evident during the league final, not to mention last years game against Mayo when Roscommon went into a match against one of the top 3 counties in the country with no game plan. Surely that alone would qualify as naive?

[Farrandeelin]

All the talk around these parts is of having a tough test in Hyde Park before we think about All-Ireland quarter-final appearances and the like. However, could Leitrim upset the applecart in this one? We'd have to think about a tough test in Carrick instead if that was to happen. I can't see Ros losing this one though. I think, like Syferus that Evans has learned a lot from last year's naivety and Ros should be too good.