CONNACHT SFC FIRST ROUND Keith Dugganon how for Roscommon when it comes to championship days, it boils down to old virtues of resilience and hunger
IT IS an age-old tradition that Roscommon people make the short drive south for championship Sundays in Galway in a mood of defiance as much as hope. Tomorrow's chapter in the rivalry promises nothing more for the Primrose fans than pleasant weather in Salthill and a few ice-cream cones along the Promenade afterwards.
It has been a turbulent few months for Roscommon, while Galway caught the eye during the National League playing their pleasing brand of flair football. Roscommon, as ever, arrive as outsiders and nobody, from bookmakers to former players, expects anything other than a handsome Galway victory.
And yet there are precedents. If it is true the Tribesmen are usually expected to prevail in these derbies, it is also true generations of Roscommon teams have never allowed them to rest on their laurels.
"Before the championship started, we were rated as the weakest team in Connacht and we were outsiders against Sligo."
That was former All Star defender Enon Gavin speaking some 10 years ago after Roscommon had pushed Galway to the brink in a rain-lashed drawn Connacht final. The replay, played in early August, went to extra-time and Galway only got their noses in front when Michael Donnellan nipped in for a freak goal and added a brilliant point.
Galway came through an unexpected thriller by 1-17 to 0-17 and then went on to record a modern revolution against Derry and Kildare. But it is often forgotten Roscommon might have caught John O'Mahony's budding team that day and that 1998 might have been another washout for the maroon county instead of the glorious vindication of open football it turned out to be.
Three years later, Roscommon came equipped with a sting as well. A hot day in Tuam and nothing but a home victory anticipated. Galway had lost the 2000 All-Ireland final against Kerry after a brilliant draw and replayed series that captured the public imagination.
ROSCOMMON HADlooked competitive in the league but nobody predicted the audacity with which they would take the game to the aristocrats.
Roscommon hit 2-12 on a day when Nigel Dineen and Frankie Dolan were in show-stealing form. Galway petered out, one of the best forward lines of modern times clipping 14 points and most people figured on writing the obituary of a team content with one All-Ireland.
That day prompted a memorable acknowledgment from John O'Mahony: "It was just a bad day at the office."
Galway folk hung around the pubs of the old town full of doubts while the Roscommon crowds raced in celebration across the border, whooping it up. There would be a nasty rebound to the season: Roscommon duly won the provincial championship with a dramatic late goal but their prize was a quarter-final against Galway, played in Castlebar. In a shameful decision, Roscommon didn't even get to play in Croke Park as provincial champions.
Galway swept past them, the beginning of a summer surge that resulted in a second All-Ireland. But for that afternoon in Tuam, Roscommon had been kings.
"There was no magic formula or Holy Grail involved in this," clarified John Tobin, the Galway man who masterminded that resounding shock. "We really went for that game today."
It is that history of defiance Roscommon people will be banking on if they are to experience any sort of joy in Salthill tomorrow. In his work as provincial games officer, Tobin is well acquainted with the superstructure of both counties.
When it comes to the senior championship, numbers mean the odds will almost always be tilted in Galway's favour. Sometimes, when he thinks about Roscommon's brilliant victory in the 2006 All-Ireland minor championship, Tobin is inclined to see it as, well, a minor miracle.
Roscommon has about 90 primary schools and no secondary school playing in the A competition. Galway has around 220 primary schools and half a dozen secondary schools with heavy-hitting reputations in Gaelic football.
SERIOUS WORK HASgone into Roscommon in the last decade but when it comes to the blockbuster championship days, it boils down to the old virtues of resilience and hunger and the hope that the team will hit a purple patch.
"I suppose in some ways, this is ideal for Roscommon, going into Pearse Stadium with no pressure," Tobin acknowledges.
"But equally, I am sure that Liam Sammon, in his own inimitable way, will have Galway on guard for this game. And I feel Galway are probably gunning for this Connacht title. And Galway people know that Roscommon are always capable of giving you a good scare. So there is no question of Roscommon just sneaking in there."
It has been a bleak few months for Roscommon football. The form under John Maughan's management tenure was deeply discouraging for travelling fans, with the 4-20 the team shipped against Armagh an unbearably low point. When the Mayo man decided to leave, he cited extreme and abusive criticism directed at his players as one of the chief reasons for his departure, while acknowledging his record, viewed from a cold business perspective, was unsustainable. Maughan's remarks left a bitter feeling with the county.
The reports - printed in this newspaper among others - that a popular GAA website, stolensheep.com, was used as a conduit to orchestrate a public campaign against the team and management have been rebutted by the site administrator as well as the members.
There was no doubt Maughan felt genuinely aggrieved, but equally there is no doubt many Roscommon fans believe he is mistaken in his assessment of the general mood and behaviour after his final game in charge.
"All that myself and fellow Roscommon supporters expect or want to see is an honest effort from the players and management," said Frank Ryan, a habitual presence at all Roscommon underage and senior games, season in, season out. "Pride in the jersey and the people it represents, an honest effort and battling performance. Once we see that then we know that at least they tried and just lost to a better team on the day. These elements have been missing for the past few seasons.
"All too often we were beaten before we set foot on the pitch at all and this attitude transferred into the awful performances we saw. We sucked it up, put our heads down and made our way home.
"That's hard to do when you travel up to Armagh to witness a 22-point mauling. But we have done it time and again. That's why the last few weeks have been so galling for so many of us."
Regardless of interpretations of events, Maughan left because he felt he was no longer wanted and it placed his squad in a tough situation, low on confidence with the championship looming.
In fairness, the Roscommon response was swift, the interim manager Paul Earley guiding the team to a significant road victory against Cavan preceding the elevation of the county under-21 manager Michael Ryan, ironically one of the senior players Maughan chose not to use when he was in charge.
Ryan's appointment made him, at 31, the youngest senior manager in Gaelic games, and as this week's team selection proved, he has not been afraid to put his own brand on the side.
"Michael Ryan will put his soul into this and I suppose Roscommon always travel with optimism but the hard fact is we probably are just not strong enough at the moment," says Tony McManus, who played on the famous 1980 Primrose team and has been a central figure in the underage work in the county.
"In terms of this senior team, the way the league was restructured last year kind of caught them. The year before, they had been playing almost Division Four standard and they got promotion. Then the way the new tables fell, they found themselves in a really tough group. It was as if they had jumped an extra division. And they were always going to struggle against the likes of Cork and Armagh.
"People needed to be more patient with them. Maybe some of the younger players were rushed through too early but having said that, there is nothing wrong with that if you have senior lads willing to lead and show them the way. We haven't had that recently."
WHEN McMANUS THINKSabout the way that celebrated 1980 team was formed, he puts it down to a talented minor team of 1975 that was gradually incorporated into the senior side.
The hope in Roscommon was, of course, that Fergal O'Donnell's 2006 vintage would be a hugely restorative force for the county, just as the county's historic 1943/1944 All-Ireland success was backboned by an excellent minor team.
But that will require time. Michael Ryan has elected to start just one of that famed minor team, Conor Devanney, against Galway tomorrow. But six more are on the bench and with Séamus O'Neill fit again and forgotten men like Jonathan Dunning back in, there is a small sense of mystery and intrigue as to how Roscommon might perform.
Frank Ryan will be in the crowd but he is not expecting to have much to shout about: "You won't find too many Roscommon people who believe we can win this one. The only way we can do that is if Galway get complacent."
It may have to get worse before it gets better for Roscommon, who hold a unique place in the hierarchy of west of Ireland football. Galway and Mayo are always the big forces and Sligo and Leitrim continually battle the odds.
Roscommon are in a place all of their own, the outsiders in spirit but bearing the aristocratic past of those war-time All-Irelands and a rebellious belief that, even on their darkest days, they ought to be able to give the big counties a scare.
Perhaps the old-stagers will rise to the occasion and who knows but the class of 2006 will catch fire and maybe, just maybe, it will be one of those championship Sundays that defy all prediction.
John Tobin conjured magic formulas on that hot day in Tuam. And when Galway eclipsed Roscommon two months later in Castlebar, he said: "They were extremely gracious when we beat them back in June and we want to return the same now. They have our support and I think they will win it all now."
That was seven years ago and there has been much water under the bridge since but in many ways, nothing changes. Tomorrow, the primrose and maroon mingle again. Galway are the warmest of favourites and Roscommon come with a point to prove to the world.
