NFL Division 1: Roscommon 2-20 Donegal 0-20
At times the rain fell as chips of ice and the wind was outrageous, but somewhere in between Roscommon managed to warm the hearts of their home supporters with a performance of unbreakable spirit and fiery resolve.
In the end, their six-point win – which included the perfect momentum-breaker of Conor Hand’s goal on 66 minutes – handed Donegal their first defeat of this campaign. Better still, they’ve left open plenty more Division 1 permutations going into next Sunday’s final round showdown.
Donegal arrived with one foot in the final, and although trailing Roscommon by 11 points at the break, playing into that crossfire of a hurricane, they grabbed the momentum from there with the look of a team surely closing in on victory. With 10 minutes to play it was a one-point game.
Then Roscommon hit back – man-of-the-match Enda Smith scoring before they maximised their counter-attacking play on 66 minutes. Substitute Shane Cunnane delivered a sweet kickpass to Diarmuid Murtagh, who then laid off to Hand close to goal, who deftly palmed into the net.
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Murtagh had the last say with his placed ball, Roscommon somehow defying the conditions and all of Donegal’s momentum with the grandstand finish.
“No complaints. To be honest, we didn’t do enough to win the game, that’s the bottom line,” said Donegal manager Jim McGuinness. “We got it back to two points with 20 minutes to go, one point with 10 minutes to go. With a gale-force wind in your back, if you’re not winning the game in that situation, it’s your own fault in many respects.
“In the second half, every score Roscommon got was the result of a turnover, or one of our kickouts that didn’t get away. But Roscommon ground it out, they were physical and aggressive, and they played really well.”
The big question at half-time was whether Roscommon’s 1-13 to 0-5 advantage would be enough to see them home. Smith was in mighty form, hitting an early duo of two-pointers, before Murtagh finished off their first goal on 13 minutes as Donegal were struggling badly under their own kickouts.
Donegal only managed two points in the opening half-hour, although they certainly had their goal chances. A penalty claim from Conor O’Donnell was waved away, Jason McGee shot just wide, and Conor McCahill forced a good save from Conor Carroll.
Micheal Murphy, making his 195th appearance for Donegal, scored a point and a free in the first half, but never truly warmed to the conditions.
Still, when Donegal came out and hit 0-6 to no reply, including two-pointers from Jason McGee and Shea Malone, it seemed certain they had Roscommon’s number. When Jamie Brennan came on and reduced the gap to a point on 62 minutes, it seemed Donegal’s victory was only a matter of time.
“We’ve been that team a few times, coming back into the game, and it’s very difficult to stop that momentum,” said Murtagh, who finished with 1-5 for Roscommon. “In fairness lads around the middle start winning a bit of ball, and yeah, goals against the wind are very important.
“It was an unbelievable pass from Shane (Cunnane), because I’d made the run before he kicked it, but knew he loves to kick the ball. And those conditions were bad, uncomfortable really, probably the worse we’ve played in.”
Should we talk more about the weather? McGuinness couldn’t resist. At times the visibility on the field appeared non-existent, but that was no excuse.
“The likes of today, you spend half the time talking about the weather,” said McGuinness. “The impact of this and that, all the different consequences. It was tough for the supporters, never mind the players, the hailstones were battering off everyone at one stage.
“When it ends up like that, there is an element of chance to it, but take nothing away from Roscommon, they deserved their victory. But I think we were playing too aggressive in the first half, against a gale-force wind, which doesn’t make sense.”
The win guarantees Roscommon Division 1 football again next year, and they’re still in with a chance of making the final. Should Donegal beat Monaghan in the last round McGuinness’s charges will progress, but if Roscommon beat Mayo, and Kerry lose to Armagh, it’s the Rossies who go to the decider.
For now at least, McGuinness appeared unconcerned about such outcomes: “We’re not bothered either way, to be honest. If we get there, we get there. If we don’t, we’ll have an extra week to prepare for Down (in the Ulster Championship), which will be five weeks. We’re getting a lot out of it, up to this point, and just want to keep that going.
“We’ve another game left, have had a good campaign so far, so don’t want to get caught up in too many negatives.”
For Roscommon manager Mark Dowd, Sunday was all about the positives, come what may against Mayo: “A great win, especially after the last game here against Dublin,” he said.
“We could have come in at half-time with a few more on the board, but that just sharpened our focus in the second half, we couldn’t afford to step off.
“It was a good controlled second-half performance, I’m happy with that, but we’ll treat Mayo the same as every other game, and wherever it takes us after that, it takes us.”
ROSCOMMON: C Carroll; P Gavin, N Higgins, C Neary (0-0-2); E Ward, R Daly, S Lambe (0-0-2); K Doyle (0-1-1), C Ryan; D Ruane, E Smith (0-2-2), E McCormack; D Murtagh (1-1-3, 1tpf, 3f), D Cregg, R Heneghan (0-0-1). Subs: S Cunnane for Ryan (42 mins), R Fallon for Neary, C Hand (1-0-1) for Cregg (both 49), C Keogh for Fallon (58, inj), T Lambe for Heneghan (62).
DONEGAL: G Mulreany (0-0-1′45); E Ban Gallagher (0-0-1), B McCole, S McMenamin; R McHugh, C McGonagle, F Roarty (0-1-0); H McFadden, M Langan (0-1-0); P Mogan (0-0-1), C O’Donnell (0-0-2), M Campbell; C McCahill (0-0-1), J McGee (0-2-0), M Murphy (0-0-2, 1f). Subs: S Malone (0-1-1) McCahill, C McColgan for Campbell (both h-t), J Brennan (0-0-1) for McHugh (56 mins).
Referee: Brendan Griffin (Kerry).
