CBS management want team to get out of blocks earlier as place in final at stake

All-Ireland Colleges SF ‘B’ semi-final: Roscommon CBS v St Peter’s, Dunboyne on Saturday in Kinnegad at 1 pm

Roscommon CBS face the Leinster champions St Peter’s of Dunboyne in the All-Ireland semi-final on Saturday after winning their first Connacht ‘B’ title since 2019 two weeks ago against Scoil Mhuire, Strokestown.

The Roscommon town side are improving all the time and will need to produce a big performance to defeat Dunboyne who were impressive in accounting for  Enniscorthy CBS by 0-13 to 1-7 in the recent Leinster final.
The Leinster champions have a number of Meath minors on their side and Dunboyne native and legendary Meath coach Sean Boylan has been addressing the team this year to provide added motivation.

Roscommon CBS will be hoping their main players can provide inspiration for their colleagues this weekend. Michael Gillooly, Colin Murray and captain Eoghan Carthy have been excellent in defence while Seamus Hussey and Sean McDermott will hope to edge the midfield battle.

Sam Hannon leads the attack and Owen Rogers and Freddie Kelly have been prominent in the danger zone, but to reach an All-Ireland final CBS will have to produce a very solid all-round team performance.

The Roscommon CBS team are jointly managed by Eoghan Coll and Noel Moran. Eoghan Coll told People Sport that they will be looking to improve on their Connacht final display on Saturday.

“We will want to play better than we did against Strokestown. We had a poor start and they were more physical than us. They were impressive on the ball early on but we improved as the game went on. We will want to get a good display for the entire game this time around.”

Coll says that Dunboyne are an impressive side. “They are strong down the middle and they have a very good full-forward. They have a good kick-out strategy as well. They won the Leinster final by a lot more than the scoreboard suggested (three points) and according to what we have heard they missed a good few chances so we know that they will be a hard side to beat. But we are looking forward to the match and hopefully we will have a good performance on the day” he concluded.

Noel Moran said that any injuries in the CBS camp have been cleared up. “We hope to have a full clean bill of health this week and there is great competition for places on the team, which is a bonus.”

Moran also reflected on the recent Connacht final display by Roscommon CBS.

“We started slowly in the Connacht final but there were a few factors… we were on a high after beating Oranmore in the semi-final and a good few of the lads were doing mocks (exams) that week so this time we have had better preparation.”

Noel says that he is predicting a close contest. “I think it will go down to the wire. We have a great group of lads here and it is a pleasure to coach them. Alongside myself and Eoghan, we have Gerry Lohan and Sean Adamson as well as coaches – and the lads get on very well with them. It’s great to have those lads in the set-up as well. We are looking forward to Saturday now” he concluded.

Roscommon CBS have a good record in the All-Ireland Colleges ‘B’ Championship. The last time the CBS won the Connacht title (in 2019) they went on to win the All-Ireland, beating Rathmore of Kerry by a point in the final at Croke Park.

I think there is a lot more in this CBS team than we saw in the Connacht final recently. On that basis I give them a great chance of making it to the final.

Prediction: Roscommon CBS.