CONNACHT SFC FIRST ROUND: Galway2-16 Roscommon 0-6: WHEN YOU are down, you're down. The worst fears of the Roscommon faithful were borne out in Salthill yesterday as the abject troubles their senior men experienced in the league were carried into the championship arena.
All of 11,086 showed up for this first-round match but the exit gates were busy before the end as Galway added salt to open wounds as respectfully as they could.
Memories of a poor but close first half had evaporated by then as the men in maroon exposed a gulf between the teams that strongly suggests Connacht will boil down to a battle between the big two in mid-July.
Galway were not at full throttle yesterday, nor did they have to be. They have a full month to prepare for their joust with Leitrim and if they advance as anticipated a further four weeks to prepare for the Connacht final. The All-Ireland championship is about timing and Galway can at least draw on several areas of improvement when they study the DVD of this match.
It is unlikely many Roscommon folk will watch this one on the plasma, though.
Many in the crowd must have felt sympathy for Michael Ryan. The youngest championship manager stood alone on the sideline throughout a second half when his team drifted and then, after Gary Cox was sent off, disintegrated in the face of impossible odds.
Ryan had tried his best. The inclusion of the former minor star Donie Shine was the big surprise of the afternoon. With the Clann na nGael man installed at corner forward, Ryan made wholesale changes throughout his lines, with Karol Mannion heading into full forward and Cox dropping to centre half back to pick up Padraic Joyce.
Indeed, it was an early bit of getting-to-know-you between the veteran players that cost Cox his first card after just three minutes and Roscommon were made to pay dearly when he was ordered to walk in the 43rd minute for clattering into Barry Cullinane.
But Roscommon came out full of intent, skipping the ceremonial team photograph and embarking on an energetic warm-up regime with plenty of tackles.
Nobody could question Roscommon's commitment but it came at the cost of 15 frees in the first half and they looked jittery as the home team landed the first five points within just 16 minutes.
Yet Galway were hardly spellbinding and three excellent points from play by Senan Kilbride allowed his Roscommon team-mates to relax, and for the closing 15 minutes of the half the contest became entertaining.
Roscommon might have had the first goal in that period, Jonathan Dunning lashing a good chance across the face of the goal before Galway's goalkeeper Paul Doherty made a fine save off Cathal Cregg. In addition, Shine hit the post with a brilliantly struck sideline ball and for a brief spell Roscommon folk could dream.
Roscommon trailed by just two points and had created four points from play, and one can imagine the dressingroom was a fiery place at half-time. Mannion had returned to midfield and along with Séamus O'Neill was making life difficult for the young Galway pairing of Cullinane and Mark Lydon. Micheál Meehan had seen little quality ball and the younger Roscommon players had begun to settle.
But the second half quickly became a deeply dispiriting experience for them. Joyce snapped a classy point shortly after the throw-in. The excellent Matthew Clancy broke free for another. And when Meehan sent a 55-metre free sailing for a third score in succession, the atmosphere turned ominous. Maybe all those league whippings began to cross the minds of the Roscommon players, and the sight of Cox leaving the field could hardly have helped.
The Galway men began to attack the open spaces and tapped into the kind of expansive, swift football that gives them such devastating attacking options.
The match teetered on the brink of one-sidedness and then Clancy made a smart catch on Fiachra Breathnach's long, perceptive ball and his finish was cool and perfectly angled.
With that 57th-minute goal, Galway were out of sight.
Clancy's free-wheeling league form looks like carrying into the summer. His industry was ferocious here and he took three fine points in addition to that goal. He was retired with 10 minutes left and the man-of-the-match award in the bag.
The elevation of the former minor star Paul Conroy also worked for Galway. After blowing an early free, the St James man was highly composed in place-kicking and scoring from play.
It was a comfortable day for the back six, and the introduction of Nickey Joyce was a reminder of the potency in Galway's reserves.
But what a day of hard realities for the feted members of Roscommon's illustrious 2006 minor academy! There is no pleasure in watching a hard-working team taking a stuffing, and Galway, to their credit, never once indulged in any form of showboating.
The writing had long been on the wall when Niall Coleman raced through to fire Galway's second goal.
Roscommon's fall from grace continues and all they can do is continue to train hard in the belief they will get some sort of break in the qualifiers. The healing will take time. The good news is that they have plenty of that before they must take the field again.
Galway are not exactly roaring just now but most counties would be happy if they could knock up 2-16 on a so-so afternoon, and they have every right to be feeling good about life today.
GALWAY: P Doherty; K Fitzgerald, F Hanley, G Bradshaw; D Meehan, N Coyne, G Sice; B Cullinane, M Lydon; D Dunleavy, P Joyce (0-2), P Conroy (0-6, 4 frees); M Clancy (1-3), M Meehan (0-5, 2 frees, a 50), F Breathnach. Subs: C Bane for D Dunleavy (half-time), N Joyce for M Clancy (64 mins), N Coleman (1-0)for B Cullinane, D Mullahy for G Sice (both 66 mins), B Cullinane for M Lydon (71 mins, inj).
ROSCOMMON: G Claffey; P O'Connor, S McDermott, D Keenan; J Rogers, G Cox, D Hoey; S O'Neill, M O'Carroll; C Devaney, C Cregg, J Dunning; S Kilbride (0-3), K Mannion (0-1), D Shine. Subs: D O'Gara for M O'Carroll (19 mins), G Henaghan (0-2 frees)for Shine (half-time), D Connellan for J Dunning (54 mins), M Finneran for K Mannion (67 mins).
CARDS: GALWAY: Yellow: P Joyce (3 mins), B Cullinane (26 mins), K Fitzgerald (46 mins), N Coleman (68 mins). Red: None. ROSCOMMON: Yellow: G Cox (3, 43 mins), D Shine (24 mins), P O'Connor, S O'Neill (both 51 mins), S McDermott (60 mins). Red: G Cox (43 mins).
Referee: J McQuillan(Cavan).
