All-Ireland Senior Football Championship quarter-final: Mayo v Roscommon (Sunday, Croke Park, 4pm, live on RTE2)
ROSCOMMON’S path to a first All-Ireland semi-final since 1991 has been paved with Connacht opposition – and that will continue to be the case with Mayo presenting the biggest potential pothole yet.
The west meets in the east tomorrow with the Rossies trying to build on their wins over Leitrim and Galway to bridge that 26-year gap.
They have had to watch on, with some envy, as neighbours Mayo headed to Dublin year after year and made an impression on the All-Ireland stage – albeit without claiming the Sam Maguire. If Mayo are victorious, it will be their 14th semi-final appearance since Roscommon last made the semi-finals.
Stephen Rochford’s side are chasing their own piece of history at Croke Park as they are attempting to reach six semi-finals in a row first the first time in the county’s history, having also hit five between 1906 and 1910.
They have had a much longer route to here on account of their provincial semi-final loss to Galway, playing five times to Roscommon’s two, and it has been a very underwhelming journey.
Sligo were taken care of before that loss to the Tribesmen, ensuring a backdoor run which included extra-time wins over Derry and Cork and a comeback victory against Clare.
For Roscommon it has been full steam ahead, and the Connacht final win over a fancied Galway ensures that Kevin McStay’s side will arrive in Dublin confident, motivated and determined to defeat Mayo in Championship football for the first time in 16 years.
Team captain Ciaran Murtagh, who has contributed seven points in their two previous games, has said that the allure of three wins on the trot is proving just as strong as reaching the last four.
“Getting to an All-Ireland quarter-final was one of our aims at the start of the year but going in as provincial champions you don’t just want to be blown away then because that makes it look like the Connacht title was all you wanted,” said the Roscommon forward.
“We are looking for three successive wins in the Championship, we have not done it for a long time.
“It is something I noticed because since I have been there we have not tended to hang around the Championship too long. It is something that the management have spoken about and it is something that the players have recognised.
“You just don’t want to be winning your provincial title and then you are out a couple of weeks after that so we will be looking to get that big performance in Croke Park and get that third win.”
Castlebar native McStay will also not be short of motivation having been rejected for the Mayo job in both 1996 and 2014.
The Sunday Game pundit rightly collected the plaudits for a fine tactical display in the Connacht final with his side performing very well both with and against the strong wind.
The county’s last Championship win at Croke Park came in 1980 against Armagh, although some of the squad would have been involved in the League final successes in 2014 and ’15 against Cavan and Down respectively.
They are physically quite strong and it’s key that they halt the progress of Mayo’s Aidan O’Shea, who has been a colossus for Rochford’s side when the chips have been down this year.
They will also have to deal with Cillian O’Connor, who has managed an incredible 2-29 in five games. It’s often claimed that dead-ball tallies distort O’Connor’s contribution, but it should be noted that almost 47 percent of his scores this year have come from play.
He managed 1-4 in the League meeting between the sides earlier in the season, a night when Roscommon’s inexperience shone through.
They let Mayo hit eight points on the trot in the first half as they continually gave up their own kick-out. On top of that, they missed two super goal chances while Mayo, through an O’Connor penalty, dispatched their main chance.
McStay is famously forensic and he will have put many hours into dissecting that night in Castlebar and figuring out how they can learn lessons. Damien Comer was double-marked in the Connacht final and O’Connor can expect similar at Croke Park having enjoyed a bit of freedom in their earlier meeting.
This is a game where Roscommon’s young side can really announce their arrival on the big stage, but Mayo just seem to be on a similar path to last year.
In 2016 they stumbled past Fermanagh and Westmeath in the Qualifiers, either side of a fine win over Kildare, before they hit top gear once they reached Croke Park.
Tyrone and Tipperary were dispatched before they lost out to Dublin in the final replay.
Thoughts of rectifying that defeat is still a long way off, but it should be a sixth semi on the trot.
Mayo: TBA
Roscommon: C Lavin; S McDermott, J McManus, D Murray; N McInerney, S Mullooly, B Stack; F Cregg, E Smith; T O’Rourke, C Connolly, C Devaney; C Murtagh, D Murtagh, N Kilroy
