Ros' minors strive to claim Connacht title at second attempt

Roscommon minors were left to rue a deluge of missed chances after last weekend's drawn Connacht Minor Football final against a highly fancied Mayo at Pearse Stadium in Galway. A late Aidan Walsh free earned Mayo - last year's beaten All-Ireland finalists - a replay at Dr Hyde Park this coming Sunday (throw-in: 6.30pm), but the general feeling after the game was that Gary Wynne's Roscommon had let a great opportunity pass them by. Roscommon registered eight points in last weekend's game but actually kicked more than 15 wides, a fact lamented afterwards by St Brigid's youngster Jack Carty. Hodson Bay native Carty, 16, said: "I thought we played well enough to win the game but we didn't take our chances. We kicked far too many wides and are disappointed with that. Hopefully we can match Mayo again this weekend but take our chances this time around. It's unfortunate that we didn't shoot as accurately as we should have but we certainly showed we're capable of matching Mayo. Unfortunately, Mayo might not play as poorly again. We knew we had a good team and were capable of matching them and hopefully we get what we deserve this Sunday. We've trained so hard all year and hopefully that will see us through this weekend in Hyde Park." Roscommon will obviously have a far greater level of support this weekend, as the replay takes place at Dr Hyde Park. Carty feels the Roscommon supporters could have a major influence on proceedings. "I think people saw last weekend what kind of support Roscommon have because there was a great amount of them in Pearse Stadium. They (Roscommon supporters) were great and helped us along," said Carty. "Home advantage this weekend can definitely help us. It's always a boost to play in front of your own supporters and it would be great to give them something to go home happy about. We know Mayo very well and have been familiar with most of their players for a long time. We pinpointed their main threats last weekend and it seemed to work to a large extent. If we had been more clinical in front of goal then we would've won quite comfortably," he added. Carty was one of several South Roscommon players to feature in last weekend's final at Pearse Stadium including goalkeeper Naas Connaughton, Niall Daly, Cathal Shine, Daniel Qualter and substitute Aaron Feehily.