Fermanagh v Roscommon

[orangeman]

 Brilliant result for Fermanagh. Serious setback for Roscommon.

[joemamas]

Donie Shine doing some moaning about ref on shannonside.

but five points up and Fermanagh score six points unanswered,

[Teo Lurley]

One of the All Ireland contenders knocked out by Fermanagh!

[skeog]

shannonside commentary duo very sad losers so much moaning that the rossies got robbed by cormac reilly fair play to the erne men they played to the end john evans p 45 will be in the post i would say hopefully they get back safe in their big bus

[snoopdog]

Delighted for Fermanagh. Pete Mcgrath showing Down what they're missing.

[The Black Mamba]

Wasn't at the game so can't really comment on any refereeing decisions but the Shannonside duo seemed to be blaming Cormac Reily almost single handedly for it! However bad he may have been, I think we should look more so at our own collapse towards the end. Fermanagh sounded like fully deserving winners though! So will Evans be getting his P45?

[Itchy]

When Roscommon lose there always has to be a reason, the opposition can never be better. Pete McGrath is doing an outstanding job with Feemanagh, if he were available next year I'd love to see him in Cavan but that's very unlikely.

[moysider]

That will a terrible shock to the rossie psyche, and you'd imagine the knives will be out for John Evans. McStay better polish his package again

Hopefully that wont happen. He could turn them into a serious team.

Tommy Tom Carr should be given another shot at it imo.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Jaysus. Just noticed Roscommon lost. Last time I saw the score they were cruising.

[The Black Mamba]

That will a terrible shock to the rossie psyche, and you'd imagine the knives will be out for John Evans. McStay better polish his package again

Hopefully that wont happen. He could turn them into a serious team.

Tommy Tom Carr should be given another shot at it imo.

[moysider]

Jaysus. Just noticed Roscommon lost. Last time I saw the score they were cruising.

They got Cormacked.

[Shamrock Shore]

Tommy Tom Carr should be given another shot at it imo.

LOL

That's quote of the day

[Throw ball]

Well done Fermanagh.

[Farrandeelin]

Delighted for Fermanagh. Pete McGrath is doing a fine job with them. I thought Ros had it when they went back to 5 points again.

[Syferus]

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.