Keith Duggan finds the Roscommon manager not bothered about facing Sligo so soon after Sunday's draw - in fact he's eager to get on with it

Although managers often bemoan the six-day turnaround during the championship, Roscommon manager Tom Carr is happy his team's replay with Sligo is going ahead next week.

"I think we are as well off picking things up again sooner rather than later. It was beyond our control anyway because of the close proximity of the qualifiers. But we are looking forward to the game, as I'm sure are Sligo.

"Playing in Markievicz Park probably hands a small advantage back to them but it is not something we are overly worried about, it's a good ground to play in."

Carr witnessed the dual character of his Roscommon team on Sunday, scintillating in the first half and highly wasteful during the second period when Sligo came back. The most glaring statistic from Roscommon's perspective was 15 wides. Both Gary Cox and Frankie Dolan missed late frees that might have won the game for the home team.

"That certainly is a lot higher than the kind of wides total we would normally register at Hyde Park and in fairness, our wides average through the league has been much lower than that. But definitely, our shooting cost us and it was disappointing," said Carr.

Having come through a real cliffhanger against Kildare last summer, Carr was hopeful the experience might give Roscommon the edge on Sunday. But although they missed the winning opportunities, there was some consolation in that at least they managed to create despite playing a poor final half-hour.

"That's the point. Perhaps if we had taken our chances early in the second half, we might have killed off the game. But we played poorly, which was particularly disappointing in light of our first-half performance. Yet we still had possibilities throughout the second half and the players still had the character to go looking for the game."

Carr will almost definitely be without defender David Casey, who received 20 stitches after an accidental clash of heads.

The highly regarded Casey had been marking Sligo's Eamon O'Hara but was unable to continue after the incident.

"It was a nasty knock, just one of those things. Given the quick turnaround it is highly unlikely he will have recovered in time for the replay and definitely, losing a player of David's quality is significant," said Carr.

Before the game, Carr had declared the result would be hard to call. After racing into a 1-5 to 0-2 lead, it may have seemed as though he was being coy but by the middle of the second half, it was clear the two teams would take each other to the edge.

"It was one of those classically tight and tough local derbies," said Carr. "An incredibly tense match throughout.

"Basically, Sligo and Roscommon have a healthy respect for one another as counties and at the same time there is a mutual lack of respect. They don't hold back and this transpired as I thought it might."

The result was hugely satisfying for Sligo given their miserable beginning and a terrible championship record at Hyde Park that stretches back 30 years. Confidence will be high now they get to entertain their neighbours in Markievicz Park.

"We would hope to see a good Roscommon support there anyway. But in preparing for this, we knew we were facing a tough game. That hasn't changed. We made a lot of basic errors the last day and in that context, it is good to still be in the Connacht championship.

"We will pick it up now over the next few days and give it another go on Saturday evening."