As one final slips away, another lies ahead for Roscommon hurling
By Kevin Egan
One trip to Croke Park looms for the Roscommon U20 hurlers, while another potential visit to GAA HQ agonisingly slipped away from the county's senior hurlers last Saturday afternoon.
On Saturday, the Roscommon U20s will take on Down as the curtain raiser to the senior footballers’ first game in the 2024 All-Ireland series. The first task for Kevin Sammon and the management team this week will be to help the large cohort of players that are part of both panels to overcome the disappointment of their 1-19 to 2-16 draw against Mayo - a result which means that Mayo will take on Donegal in the Nickey Rackard final, edging out Roscommon by scoring difference.
When Cormac Phillips slammed the ball past Enda Lawless towards the end of the third quarter, Mayo led by eight points and it felt like Roscommon were about to exit the championship with a whimper.
Then Conor Mulry got the ball rolling with an excellent score from the left sideline, Brendan Mulry fired in a goal, James Hardiman struck over a couple of haymaker points from distance, and the impact of Seán Canning off the bench was immense. The Pádraig Pearses flyer was a constant threat, taking two points of his own and really unsettling the Mayo defence. Ultimately the game came down to two late chances, an off-balance shot from Canning that dropped a yard short, and Hardiman’s 50 metre free that sailed wide.
“Every team in the country, hurling and football, will miss chances this weekend. That’s part of the game, that’s a part of the sport, you’ll have good days and bad days. But I think that this is a good day for Roscommon hurling, the lads stood up to be counted,” was the summary of the Roscommon senior (and U-20) hurling manager, Kevin Sammon.
“We asked the boys to dig deep today and they did. It’s a sickener to lose out on scoring difference, we had the chances to win it, but we’re so proud of the lads and their performance today, we asked them to give what they could, and they did.
“Roscommon hurling has improved from last year, this time last year it was about fighting a relegation battle, today you’re a puck a ball away from getting into an All-Ireland final. So that’s progress, and hopefully we can build on that for next year.
“Today was all about the seniors. Today is put to bed now, and we’ll focus on next Saturday and the All-Ireland final,” he said.
Down will start as favourites for that final after racking up victories over Armagh and Wicklow by a combined total of 57 points to get this far.
Roscommon found a rich vein of scoring form themselves in the semi-final against Mayo while players like James Dillon, Paddy Fallon, Michael Hussey and Liam Óg Coyle have gained extensive experience playing with the county seniors this year.
Their hope for now will be that the negative experience of last weekend’s heartbreak won’t hold them back when the action gets underway at Croke Park on Saturday (throw-in 3pm), with the Roscommon footballers' clash with All-Ireland champions Dublin to follow at 5pm.