Connacht SFC semi-final: It may not be one of the high-profile games of the weekend, but Hyde Park will witness two teams as committed as any, reports Gavin Cummiskey.

John Maughan and Tommy Breheny are two managers endeavouring to break out of football's middle tier. Tomorrow should represent a chance to revel in the championship sunlight. Unfortunately this is the summer of draws and the coming weekend is a fusion of high profile hurling and football fixtures. The Dubs and Meath. Cork and Waterford. Donegal and Tyrone. Tipperary and Limerick.

RTÉ are stretching resources to show all four games live, leaving precious little room for the rest.

Still, Sligo travel to Hyde Park in Roscommon knowing victory means progress to the Connacht final with a top-heavy draw looking set to split Galway out as opposition on July 8th.

Sligo have been inactive since they squashed New York 2-18 to 1-3 in Gaelic Park on May 13th, while Roscommon haven't played since a comprehensive defeat to Meath in the Division Two league final.

Both teams are in transition. Breheny tells us Maughan's Roscommon are further down the road (while Sligo are further hampered by injury to star turn Eamon O'Hara).

"Roscommon are probably two years into a three-year programme whereas we are fielding a team that has some players on the wrong side of 30 and others who are inexperienced," said Breheny.

"Overall, there will be a lot of changes in the Sligo team over the next few years but at least we have players capable of coming through."

Was the excursion across the Atlantic of any benefit?

"It's hard to know. It was a bit one-sided but we had a few good days training after that. We wouldn't call it an out and out championship game what with the score and the synthetic surface being a bit of a novelty. Still, we got the players away for the week. It was a good bonding exercise at the very least. We were happy with it."

Sligo's league form was just enough to avoid the do-or-die scenario that Mick O'Dwyer's Wicklow, Páidí Ó Sé's Clare and others have succumbed to already in the championship. Victory away to Wicklow on the last day of the league ensured Division Three status next season and entry into the qualifiers if beaten in the provincial championship.

"It was a so-so league but considering what was at stake it was more competitive than usual. We were unlucky the way the year fell that we had four away games and only three home games. We lost away to Wexford and Cavan by a kick of a ball," adds Breheny.

"We had to go down to Aughrim needing the win. There was a championship atmosphere with Wicklow also needing a win to avoid Division Four and the Tommy Murphy Cup. We secured our Division Three status in a pressure game. The fellas responded very well. It was more beneficial than the New York game but that was eight weeks ago so it doesn't count for much now."

Breheny remembers the last time Sligo started the championship in New York. The journey in the 2002 championship eventually ended in an All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to eventual champions Armagh. The scalp of Tyrone already hanging from their shorts.

And what of Maughan?

Well, having charted the route to Dublin 3 in September on four occasions - albeit with Mayo - it is understandable that he was keeping his powder dry at this juncture. One-line answers all round except when asked to elaborate on Roscommon's minor All-Ireland triumph of 2006.

"Yes, the minors did give the people of Roscommon renewed hope for the future and we are trying to build on what we have here at present.

"This Roscommon team, the here and now, is where we are focused on, that's why I'm here. The potential is certainly there," said Maughan.

Breheny has nothing but regard for his rival, saying: "In fairness to John Maughan he has put his own mark on the team in the sense there was a lot of pressure on him this year to bring back certain established players but he held his own line and kept faith with the younger lads and it has proven the right decision.

"They didn't finish well against Meath but they are a very lively side with a nice mix of youth - more so than us."

Two teams grappling for space in a weekend of high-profile encounters. Regardless, one of them will be preparing for a provincial final come Monday morning - providing, of course, the curse of the draw subsides.