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Cavan playing really well the last few weeks but home advantage is massive for us. We will need to sort out our defense before championship or we will get found out very fast. I know stack will make a difference but we are wide open and teams just seem to run straight through us without and contact. Definitely need to up the aggression levels and start really defending over the next two games. In every game this year we have given teams loads of opportunities to punish us dave1988 (Roscommon) - Posts: 1194 - 03/03/2025 12:01:34 2594393 Link
Replying To dave1988: "Cavan playing really well the last few weeks but home advantage is massive for us. We will need to sort out our defense before championship or we will get found out very fast. I know stack will make a difference but we are wide open and teams just seem to run straight through us without and contact. Definitely need to up the aggression levels and start really defending over the next two games. In every game this year we have given teams loads of opportunities to punish us" Interesting post. Aggression also means getting to the ball first and I feel a couple of our defenders allow the opposition to get possession too easily. Be very interesting to see selection of the championship defenders. With Brian Stack, Colm Neary, Niall Daly, David Murray not having played too much football over the last few weeks, the next two matches should tell us something. Where would you play Stack (full back line) and Neary (half back line) for example if they are picked? Do we need height in the half back line to help us get some kickout possession. I do not think we are using Shane Cunnane enought when he is picked, as he is a big man and has caught several kickouts recently when they have come in his direction. Another aspect is do we press enought as defending starts at number 15. Difficult selection calls for the management team and several lads are going to be very disappointed on not getting the call, which is what you want. Same applies to the forwards. letsgetgoing (Roscommon) - Posts: 680 - 03/03/2025 12:58:30 2594417 Link
Two games to be played and we are where we wanted to be at this stage with promotion in our own hands. During this campaign plenty of experimenting has been done and 29 players from the 30 plus panel has seen minutes of action and five have made their league debut. We also had to deal with plenty of injuries with Brian Stack,Done Smith,Daire Cregg etc sitting in the stand last Saturday in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Others that returned to panel after year or few years away who had to get up to speed, some are still not there. Cavan off the back of three wins in row will come to Hyde Park with their tails up and bring a decent following. They will likely ask plenty of questions of us, they caused us plenty of issues in Longford last Summer and they didn't have Gearóid McKiernan back then. Westmeath have been unlucky could easily have 5 points on the table right now. Even if they are relegated by the time we play them, winning in Mullingar will not be easy as Meath found out yesterday. So while in a good position we still have work to do in order to secure one of the two promotion spots. For me before a ball was kicked we have two objectives/aims for 2025. 1. promotion back to Div 1 and 2. Reaching All Ireland Quarter final again and seeing where that will take us if we do. The_analyser (Roscommon) - Posts: 3961 - 03/03/2025 15:23:26 2594461 Link
On a side note congrats to Darragh Murray on being called into Ireland squad for this weekends game against France. Unbelievable achievement for the young lad. I would follow Niall and Darraghs progress and both brilliant rugby players and delighted for him. dave1988 (Roscommon) - Posts: 1194 - 03/03/2025 19:11:54 2594547 Link
Replying To diehardrossie: "played some good stuff today especially ben conor hand keith doyle and niall higgins, However cork missed a few goals and had a lot of wides as some of our collective defending was poor," Agree with that. Cork are a very ordinary team but at times they cut through Roscommon's defence with ease. We'll need to be a lot better defensively if we're to have any ambition for a good championship run.On a positive note, we have loads of forward options and Conor Hand is just sublime. We need to win our last two games to be sure of promotion . Cavan are going well but hopefully we can do the business in The Hyde and then close it out in Mullingar. To repeat a question asked on here before, do Roscommon have a defence coach in their management team because there seems to be no structure at all to their defending. endgame (Roscommon) - Posts: 2324 - 04/03/2025 05:37:07 2594599 Link
Replying To endgame: "Agree with that. Cork are a very ordinary team but at times they cut through Roscommon's defence with ease. We'll need to be a lot better defensively if we're to have any ambition for a good championship run.On a positive note, we have loads of forward options and Conor Hand is just sublime. We need to win our last two games to be sure of promotion . Cavan are going well but hopefully we can do the business in The Hyde and then close it out in Mullingar. To repeat a question asked on here before, do Roscommon have a defence coach in their management team because there seems to be no structure at all to their defending." The defending or lack thereof is concerning. Can we get some strategy organised by Easter or at worst by mid May? I bloody hope so or we could ship some awful totals! Seanfanbocht (Roscommon) - Posts: 2107 - 04/03/2025 09:35:54 2594616 Link
Replying To Seanfanbocht: "The defending or lack thereof is concerning. Can we get some strategy organised by Easter or at worst by mid May? I bloody hope so or we could ship some awful totals!" Highly unlikely to happen but Unless the FRC come in with tweaks that isn't focused mainly on offensive football then we won't be alone in shipping awful big totals this summer. I watched back on Galway's match last night, I would regard them as the best defensive team in Ireland at the moment with a top structure in place, yet they conceded 1-18 to Tyrone who could well end up in Div 2 an lucky they didn't concede a lot more. This time last year under the old rules Galway held to Tyrone to 0-12. The_analyser (Roscommon) - Posts: 3961 - 04/03/2025 13:02:08 2594665 Link
Replying To The_analyser: "Highly unlikely to happen but Unless the FRC come in with tweaks that isn't focused mainly on offensive football then we won't be alone in shipping awful big totals this summer. I watched back on Galway's match last night, I would regard them as the best defensive team in Ireland at the moment with a top structure in place, yet they conceded 1-18 to Tyrone who could well end up in Div 2 an lucky they didn't concede a lot more. This time last year under the old rules Galway held to Tyrone to 0-12." The new rules have lead to high scores. However, old rules or new rules a team has to defend. Roscommon were very poor defensively against Cork. The ease with which a very ordinary Cork team cut through the Roscommon Defence is very worrying. If Roscommon defend like that in the championship, our Summer will be short ,despite all the good forwards we have. endgame (Roscommon) - Posts: 2324 - 07/03/2025 03:05:25 2595149 Link
Replying To endgame: "The new rules have lead to high scores. However, old rules or new rules a team has to defend. Roscommon were very poor defensively against Cork. The ease with which a very ordinary Cork team cut through the Roscommon Defence is very worrying. If Roscommon defend like that in the championship, our Summer will be short ,despite all the good forwards we have." Not much defending going on in Div 2 period hence the hurling type scoreline lines so I'm not sure how much i'd read out of any of these league games. Championship especially knockout games in the province or All Ireland series will have the majority of teams more focused on their defensive duties or be it will be bigger scores conceded on average than previous years with the new rules having unbalance lend towards offensive play. Gaa_lover (USA) - Posts: 3543 - 07/03/2025 15:24:15 2595263 Link
Replying To endgame: "The new rules have lead to high scores. However, old rules or new rules a team has to defend. Roscommon were very poor defensively against Cork. The ease with which a very ordinary Cork team cut through the Roscommon Defence is very worrying. If Roscommon defend like that in the championship, our Summer will be short ,despite all the good forwards we have." What the few minutes highlights and some Cork biased match reporting I've read doesn't tell you about that match last Saturday is apart from the opening stages when we were still getting the Meath loss out of the system we defended well from the 20th minute to 55 minutes. And in that 35 minute period included a number of turnovers that became scores and during that time we outscored Cork 1-15 to 0-6 and game was won. Also have to take into account Roscommon have a much changed defence. McCormack gone for the year and not easily replaced and Brian Stack out injured our captain and best defender. Pearse Frost is new to senior inter county level, John McManus back in after many years away. Management are experimenting with Shane Cunnane a midfielder in defence and it was Robbie Dolan,David Murray first starts this year against Cork. Both Daly's working their way back to match fitness etc and I'm sure Davy would have liked to have given more minutes to Colm Neary,Senan Lambe during this league campaign but unfortunately can't due to injury. The_analyser (Roscommon) - Posts: 3961 - 07/03/2025 15:50:50 2595269 Link
I'm posting this while watching the Limerick v Galway match under lights in the Hurling. The Gaelic Grounds looks great under lights. I've often wondered why the Hyde never had flood lights installed. Does anyone know if there are any plans to install lights down the line? Think games on a Friday/Saturday night would be fantastic. I also think the County Board is missing a trick as Saturday night games would bring a lot of people into town and stay over after the game. The knock on effect would be great for the town. I'm based in Cavan and know lads who said they'd love to make a night of it down in Roscommon if matches were on a Saturday night. As it is most people just make the day trip for games. Breffni Park is a wonderful stadium to watch a match but especially under lights. Think the Hyde could be just as good and would love to see lights installed down the line ComainRos (Roscommon) - Posts: 139 - 08/03/2025 19:51:37 2595436 Link
Replying To ComainRos: "I'm posting this while watching the Limerick v Galway match under lights in the Hurling. The Gaelic Grounds looks great under lights. I've often wondered why the Hyde never had flood lights installed. Does anyone know if there are any plans to install lights down the line? Think games on a Friday/Saturday night would be fantastic. I also think the County Board is missing a trick as Saturday night games would bring a lot of people into town and stay over after the game. The knock on effect would be great for the town. I'm based in Cavan and know lads who said they'd love to make a night of it down in Roscommon if matches were on a Saturday night. As it is most people just make the day trip for games. Breffni Park is a wonderful stadium to watch a match but especially under lights. Think the Hyde could be just as good and would love to see lights installed down the line" Residents many of which have no interest in GAA stopped it and the county board know it's not worth the hassle trying again. The new training centre on the race course road will have floodlights and I would expect county underage games to be played there under lights in the years ahead. Best of luck to Roscommon CBS in the All Ireland final tomorrow in Pearse Park Longford. The_analyser (Roscommon) - Posts: 3961 - 08/03/2025 20:39:36 2595450 Link