McDonald relishes tough task

Clifford McDonald has been given the seal of approval by Gay Sheerin, Tony McManus, Gerry Fitzmaurice and Sean Kilbride, four Roscmmon stalwarts who gave sterling service as players and surely know what it takes to be an on-field leader.

McDonald, a tall centre halfback, takes on the captaincy with confidence, as he is to line out in his first Connacht final on a familiar pitch. The 25-year-old played at Tuam for Roscommon CBS against St Jarlath's of Galway on several occasions in the Connacht colleges championship.

"I'm quite happy to play there," he says. "I believe, in fact, that it takes some of the pressure off us.

"If we were playing in Hyde Park the supporters would be expecting us to win easily. Now they seem to believe that a good performance will be good enough to satisfy them."

McDonald believes that the draw with Sligo and the successful replay away from home at Markievicz Park have given the team maturity.

"We were very nervous and hesitant before the first match against Sligo. They had beaten us the previous year and had given Mayo a fright in the final.

"In the second match we were more relaxed and, although it was a narrow victory, I believe that the younger players, including myself, have gained a lot of confidence from those two matches. "We are well aware of the fact that Galway will be very hard to beat but I believe that we can shade it if we play to our full potential. The pressure will be very much on Galway before their home supporters.

"It may be that Sligo took their foot of the pedal when they were leading by seven points in the drawn match but our lads never stopped trying and came back to draw and then win the replay. That has given us a major boost to our confidence. We have shown that we can take our chances when they arise and Galway will be aware that they cannot afford to take us lightly."

McDonald says the return of Tommy Grehan to full fitness has been a huge boost. "There were doubts about his fitness but he showed that he was back to his best in recent matches and in training," he says. It is ironic that Roscommon have done most of their training in Galway, at the Padraig Pearse club grounds in Woodmount. They trained there because it was central for the dispersed squad.

The winter training was a mixture of stamina work, weight training, jogging and some ball work while, in more recent times, there has been a greater emphasis on ball work, training matches, combination work, hand passing between groups.

"We have put a lot of effort into our preparations and the players have responded well, although it takes a lot of time and effort," McDonald says. "But that is the way things are nowadays and if you don't do the work that other teams are doing, you can't expect to win matches.

"I accept that we will have our work cut out to beat Galway. They have been improving for the last two or three years and I expected them to beat Mayo last year."

He insists that nobody on the selected side can be sure of their places. "We have a very strong subs bench, with players such as Ronan Owens, Ross O'Callaghan, Francis Grehan and others worthy of a place on the side."

McDonald would appear to be sure of his place, given the confidence of the selectors and the admiration of his peers. He might well be the man to lead Roscommon out of the obscurity into which the team has fallen.