ALL-IRELAND SFC QUARTER-FINAL:The hype machine surrounding Rocommon forward Donal Shine has already hit full gear. Keith Dugganlooks at a player who has delivered at every level to date

NO PLAYER will be more closely scrutinised in Croke Park this weekend than Donal Shine. The young Roscommon man drew effusive praise and countless twists on “polish” puns in the newspapers after his 10-point scoring spree in the semi-final.

Afterwards, it was his name that the teenagers were calling once the metal gates were drawn in the tunnel under McHale Park. When Fergal O’Donnell eventually made it through the throng of delighted and somewhat stunned crowd, two thoughts were uppermost in his mind.

He was immediately realistic about Roscommon’s chances in the last eight, noting that it was important that his team did not go up there and “get a trimming”.

But when asked about the performance of Shine, the manager was restrained in his verdict, pointing out that his full forward had actually missed a few frees that he would normally expect to get. It was as if O’Donnell, just minutes after the final whistle, was anxious to deflect some of the praise and attention away from his young star.

More than most Roscommon football people, O’Donnell knows how ephemeral success can be and Shine has already had a privileged Primrose career in this regard.

A totemic figure on O’Donnell’s All-Ireland-winning minor team in 2006, Shine has since added under-21 and Sigerson medals to his collection before shooting his way to the Nestor Cup two weeks ago. After that match, Shine drew rave plaudits on the radio and television stations. Niall Moyna, his coach at DCU, was not surprised he made such an impact on the championship but is slightly concerned about the inevitable hype circling the player.

After all, in the spring, Shine sat on the bench for the Sigerson Cup final. His season was disrupted when he was dismissed in very unfortunate circumstances during a win over Offaly and by the time he was eligible to play again, the team had established itself.

“I think Donal knows and everyone knows that we selected the team on merit and that he accepted that, yes, while he is a very talented player there were maybe facets of his game that he needed to work on if he is to fit into the overall structure of the team,” says Moyna.

“He is a very good trainer and a lovely individual but I don’t think that we would have done him any favours by slotting him into a team where he didn’t fully merit his place. Sigerson is about grafting as much as anything. But he has enormous talent.

“He came back for the end of the O’Byrne Cup and won the game against Louth. He won it for us. I said to him that if he could play like that for 10 minutes, he could do it for 70 minutes.

“I think that in terms of going to the next level and being seen as one of the top 10 best players in the country that he has a bit to go in terms of working on his game. But there is no question that he has the ability”

Shine came into the Connacht final somewhat under the radar despite taking 1-7 off Leitrim in the semi-final.

That was partly because nobody beyond the two counties was paying much attention to that match and also because Sligo had dominated the football summer in the west. This was supposed to be their year.

It is inconceivable that a manager as thorough as Kevin Walsh did not pay due diligence to the threat Shine posed ahead of the final.

The favourites may have contributed to their own demise by gifting Shine several straightforward frees in the second half. But Shine also delivered a couple of terrific points from play and was willing to take the responsibility of the big shots through the tension of the second half.

Closing him down will be central to Conor Counihan’s plans tomorrow.

Facing a team of Cork’s physical strength and prodigious scoring power is probably not ideal for a Roscommon side whose championship graph has soared in the past 12 months. But Shine and his former minor team-mates have played at the under-age bracket judging themselves against the best teams. Tomorrow represents the biggest test at senior level.

“It is a big challenge,” Moyna says. “Donal will realise it and to be fair, he is a guy that does not shrink from a challenge. I think he will relish this but he will also understand what is required.

“Sometimes when you are a marked man, you have to be smart and if you are taking two guys out of the game, you leave the space for someone else.

“That is what I mean by developing the game. Quite obviously as we saw in the Connacht final, Roscommon had their homework done on Dave Kelly.

“When you have a go-to man like that, when he is closed down, it is a challenge. It is the same now with Donal.

“Cork are stronger on paper but we played Cork IT in the second round and there were five or six guys on the Cork side there and Donal saw what they were about. So you know, on a given day, in a championship match, funny things can happen.”