'It’s bedlam out there, lads' - Roscommon boss after high-scoring win

By Kevin Egan

Maybe it was the new rules, or maybe Roscommon and Down would just have caught fire anyway. The fact that this was the highest-scoring tie of the weekend by some distance would suggest it was the latter - with Roscommon winning by 3-21 to 1-20 - but either way, it felt like a whole new world for Gaelic football in Dr Hyde Park on Sunday afternoon.

“It’s bedlam out there lads, absolute bedlam. There’s no point anyone telling you they know the full craic,” said Davy Burke, and most of the supporters of both teams would have concurred.

Referee Niall Cullen did his best to keep up, but the Fermanagh official had months of training. The fans? They were all at sea – though they couldn’t afford to look away.

“There’s lads shouting and the crowd are roaring. When Down got the black card, there were people going mad that they only had two up, but they’re allowed do that,” said Burke.

“It’s the first day, we’ve probably given everyone their fill of it. Everyone is learning. We had a mark before half-time, Enda got the mark and went at goal but the referee blew up the whistle. Niall (Cullen) admitted he was

wrong, but we’re all going to get things wrong.”

The two teams got a lot right too. A total of 36 scores were accumulated, and just eight shots were put wide of the target. And Roscommon fans will be excused if they get a bit giddy, because their manager argued that there was more in them.

“There was no big panic at half-time. We spoke about being easily five up at half-time or five down at half-time in this game,” he said.

“We knew that we had the likes of Ciaráin Murtagh, Ben O’Carroll, Donie Smith, Senan Lambe and a few more to bring on. We felt that they could get us over the line, and they did.

“In fairness, Pat Havern is a fair kicker of a ball. But our goals were very important too. I still feel we left a lot out there but that’s not a bad complaint when you’ve scored 3-21.”

Burke had Ben O’Carroll, Ciaráin Murtagh and Donie Smith to come in, and they weighed in with four scores between them, including Murtagh’s wonder goal. They were among the players that he singled out for praise, though one in particular brought a particular smile to the Kildare man’s face.

“The energy of Senan Lambe, Colm Neary brought to us. When we produced the bench, we got the energy we wanted. But Jaysus, Ciaráin Murtagh, it’s great to have him back!”