John Keane & Sons Roscommon IFC final: Elphin v Strokestown on Sunday at Dr Hyde Park at 2 pm
From early in the championship many people predicted that these neighbours would meet in this year’s intermediate football final. Fuerty and Éire Óg made every effort to ensure that was not the case, but Elphin and Strokestown are in the decider on merit and have played the best football throughout the championship.
The teams have very similar records. If anything, Elphin have been the more impressive, but the fact that many of the Strokestown players will take the field on Sunday having won senior championship medals just two years ago, adds another layer of spice to Sunday’s clash.
The Roscommon intermediate football championship is a very difficult one to win. Over the years there are many examples of teams being defeated in finals, semi-finals, replays, penalty shootouts, and just about every scenario you can think of. When Elphin were relegated two years ago most people thought they would bounce back immediately. Éire Óg had other ideas last year and dumped them out at the semi-final stage.
Similarly, there is absolutely no guarantee that Strokestown will get back up to senior level this Sunday. The fact that so much is at stake makes this local derby a mouth-watering prospect. To quote my old buddy Páidí Ó Sé “there isn’t the width of a piece of paper between the teams”.
Elphin appointed Nigel Dineen as manager earlier this year. He has brought new structures into the club playing system and they are far more solid defensively as a result.
The talented Aaron Brady leads from between the posts, while in front of him Niall Higgins continues to improve and is now an established and very capable club and inter-county defender. He will probably be asked to mark either Diarmuid McGann or Shane McGinley on Sunday. Enda Killoran, Martin McCaffrey and Alex Gleeson have also been very impressive in the Elphin defence.
In the middle of the field Luke Mollahan and Nessan Lenehan have been having a great season as a pairing. However, it is up front that Elphin have been so sharp this year. The undoubted leader of the pack is the evergreen Fintan Cregg, who is one of the best club players we have seen in the county in two decades. His influence on this team continues to be huge.
Shane Killoran is also having a fantastic championship and he will play a key role again. Frankie Cregg is also still a major threat while Evan Gunn is chipping in with some vital scores so far in this campaign.
Strokestown will be determined to erase 2023 from the memory, to categorise it as little more than a bad dream. The reality is that after winning the senior championship in great style in 2022 they were sensationally demoted from the championship last summer following a relegation battle.
But they have ‘got back on the horse’ this year and are determined to return to the top table as quickly as possible. Football followers in the county will be very familiar with many of the players on the Strokestown team who tasted glory in the senior championship just two years ago.
Niall Curley, Davy Neary, Colin Regan, Keith Murphy, Colin Compton, Colm Neary, Diarmuid McGann and Shane McGinley were all to the fore in that success, and they are all performing well this year. The return from injury of Colm Neary and Diarmuid McGann has been a huge boost to their cause.
Their full-forward line of Neary, McGann and McGinley is as potent as that of any club in any grade, and if they can get enough ball they are match-winners. With Colin Compton the playmaker, Strokestown’s attacking options are very impressive.
As to who will win, it’s a toss-up. One thinks of the well-worn GAA cliché about ‘the best side on the day’. Don’t rule out extra-time. Without any serious conviction, and on the basis that they look much better defensively this year, I am giving Elphin the nod to claim the title.
Prediction: Elphin.
