West's awake despite Mayo KO

It might appear peculiar a little more than a week after the crashing defeat of Mayo in the All-Ireland final, but Connacht Council secretary John Prenty is upbeat about the football season in the west - and with good reason: the year to date has seen Connacht win All-Irelands at under-21 and minor as well as at club level.

Last Saturday saw a concluding flourish from the Roscommon minors, who drew over 17,000 to their All-Ireland final replay against Kerry and won the title for the first time in 55 years.

It was the first time in 20 years the Tom Markham Cup had crossed the Shannon: Mayo and Galway won it in successive years, 1985 and 1986, the latter team featuring Tomás Mannion and Kevin Walsh, who went on to add senior medals 12 years later.

Kerry have now gone 12 years without All-Ireland minor success.

"There has been a lot of work done at underage level with development squads," says Prenty, "but the Roscommon success was also a tribute to those in charge of the team, especially Fergal O'Donnell. They wouldn't have been a brilliant side last May and they got a bit of a break against Galway but they persevered and became very hard to beat.

"We've been involved at provincial level in all the efforts being made in the counties, but a lot depends on who they put in charge and Roscommon have had very good people, like Tony and Eamonn McManus, who've helped them from under-14 up, and Fergal O'Donnell coming in as minor manager.

"They've put down a benchmark from that point of view because you need proper people in charge of teams. It's a different requirement from running a development squad."

Establishing a link between success at underage and success at older levels is a new challenge for Roscommon. Prenty points out the Mayo team that won this year's All-Ireland under-21 had lost in the first round of the provincial championship to Galway when they were minors.

"History doesn't show a strong link between winning at minor and keeping it going to senior," says Prenty, "and Roscommon might only get a couple of players coming through, but there is a definite feel-good factor in the province as a result of the way things have gone - and the three All-Irelands have gone to three different counties."

Salthill's victory in the club All-Ireland last March was the third in a row for a Connacht club.

Even though Mayo's seniors sustained a heavy defeat against Kerry the balance sheet is positive, says Prenty.

"Looking back, the Mayo under-21 win took some of the attention off the senior loss and Roscommon buoyed up the province. There have still been big crowds at the Mayo county championship, and Ballyhaunis, which is close to a number of the clubs represented on Saturday, was wedged on Saturday night."

There are, however, dangers in handling underage success, particularly for counties unused to experiencing All-Ireland victories, and it will take a sensible policy to bring out the best in the young players who triumphed at the weekend.

"Things can go crazy," says Prenty. "Laois had great underage success and struggled to come to terms with it for a while. It has to be managed.

"A good few of the Roscommon players have gone back to college, however, and Fergal O'Donnell will have a good influence on them.

"As has been said, it's important to avoid rushing them into a senior set-up and stressing them before they're ready."

Connacht will face Munster in the provincial football semi-final on Friday week in Ballyforan under lights.