Roscommon’s minor footballers face Sligo for a place in the 2015 Connacht Final on Friday night and for the first time in a number of years Sligo will be the favourites to advance. The game is in Kiltoom at 7.30 pm.
Sligo recently won the Connacht Minor League for the first time in many years and they have the luxury of a championship game behind them. Last Saturday they put four goals past Leitrim in a 4-9 to 0-12 victory.
Roscommon’s preparations have been stop-start. There were some good performances in the Connacht Minor League which were mixed with the mediocre. The team management, under Jimmy Gacquin, were affected by the success of Roscommon CBS and the team were without most of those players for the duration of the Connacht Minor League.
Roscommon have plenty of good players in their squad and they are going into this game under the radar, which will suit them.
Roscommon CBS players Gearoid Keenan, Richard Hughes, Conor Shanager and Shane Fetherston, to name just a few, will be hoping for some game time and when you add in players like Conor Murray, Hubert Darcy, Luke Carty and Daniel Glynn, it is a strong looking Roscommon line-up.
I saw a recording of the Sligo v Leitrim game, and while Sligo scored four great goals they also conceded 0-12, which will give Roscommon some hope.
I was really impressed with the Sligo full-forward line, which is led by Patrick O’Connor, who is a big, strong and skilful full-forward, and the Roscommon defence will have to watch him closely. Darragh Cummins was impressive for Summerhill College this year and he will probably line out at midfield. Kyle Cawley and Nathan Rooney are also players to watch out for on the Sligo side.
The Sligo team are managed by former Leitrim senior player Aidan Rooney, and they will be hot favourites to advance.
Roscommon’s record in the Connacht Minor Championship over the past ten years has been phenomenal. Expectations this year have been lower, although looking at the players on the Roscommon team I would be very hopeful that there can be a shock on Friday night.
The fact that Sligo have a championship match played already will stand to them. This is a one-off, do-or-die game, with the losers out of the championship.
If Roscommon can get stuck in from the start and restrict ball getting into that dangerous looking Sligo full-forward line, they can win this game against the odds.
Prediction: Roscommon.
