All-Ireland SFC Qualifier/Round Three: Roscommon's win before a crowd of 9,123 in Mullingar on Saturday evening is best described through the language of horse-racing, writes Pat Roche in Mullingar.
They certainly got the distance despite the handicap and quickened their stride in extra time to leave Offaly, the early pacemakers, trailing in their wake.
Afterwards manager Tommy Carr was reluctant to take credit for the performance: "The players do it for themselves. It comes from deep down in each and every one of them. They worked for it, it's they who do it on the pitch."
The handicap was self-imposed by the back-room team in dropping three key players on disciplinary grounds during the week.
"We have an ethos and a team discipline for everybody and that is the way it's going to be in Roscommon football." said Carr. "I'm sure that had we been beaten tonight there would be many people who would criticise the decision." He added: "The door remains open for these players."
Frankie Dolan took centre stage with a prolific scoring display. He kicked 12 points, seven of them from frees, a 45 and a line ball.
Offaly, however, could claim they were the superior outfit for most of the first half. "I agree," said their manager Paul O'Kelly afterwards. "They (Roscommon) were chasing the game then."
Cathal Daly, Ger Rafferty, John Hurst and midfielders Ciarán McManus and James Grennan were working towards a winning performance and Colm Quinn was slotting over points from all angles.
Seven minutes before half-time Offaly were leading 0-8 to 0-4. Stephen Lohan reduced arrears to three and when Seamus O'Neill was pulled down for a penalty Gerry Lohan cracked home a fine shot to the net and the sides were level, 1-5 to 0-8, at half-time.
Although Carr refused to claim any credit, his half-time pep talk transformed his side into a dominant force throughout the third quarter and beyond.
Quinn restored Offaly's lead immediately after the break with a pointed free but from that moment the Roscommon revival started. Five unanswered points followed, four from Dolan and another from Stephen Lohan, to put Roscommon ahead 1-10 to 0-9. Derek Connellan then popped up with easily the best point of the match, from over 50 metres.
Although conceding much ground to Roscommon around midfield, where Seamus O'Neill and Stephen Lohan were ably assisted by Francie Grehan and Gerry Lohan, not to mention the work of Connellan on the left flank and Dolan's accuracy, Offaly managed to stay in touch, feeding on scraps.
Pascal Kellaghan, a late replacement for Neville Coughlan, was only a minute on the pitch when he struck the equalising goal following determined work by Finbar Cullen and James Grennan.
Roscommon's right-full back Ray Cox was given his marching orders following two yellow cards in the closing minutes of ordinary time but the Connacht team's full complement was restored by the introduction of Ger Ahearne for the 10-minutes each-way extra period.
Roscommon's tremendous spirit was evident once extra time began. Within a minute of the restart Dolan landed a point and this was followed by four more, including a classic score from O'Neill. Roscommon streaked away to a five-point lead to which Offaly could only reply with a point from wing-back Karol Slattery.
Thereafter Offaly could only manage token resistance to go down by five points in extra time.
"The only time it slipped from us was in the extra time," said manager O'Kelly afterwards.
"We were really in the game all the way though they (Roscommon) were very strong in the middle of the field and obviously we hadn't got an answer to that. Despite that we could have won the match in ordinary time.
"Regardless of all the work we did in training we just couldn't contain them in the extra time," added O'Kelly.
Two interesting bookings came before the extra-time restart when Roscommon goalkeeper Shane Curran and Offaly forward Paudie Mulhare shaped up to each other. Offaly corner forward Niall McNamee was taken to hospital by ambulance having taken a severe knock to the stomach.
ROSCOMMON: S Curran; R Cox, D Casey, J Whyte; M Beirne, F Grehan, E Towey; S O'Neill (0-2), S Lohan (0-2); G Cox, G Lohan (1-1, pen goal), D Connellan (0-1); J Dunning, K Mannion (0-1), F Dolan (0-12, seven frees). Subs: N Dineen for Dunning (50 mins); B Higgins for S Lohan (54 mins); J Tiernan (0-1) for G Lohan (66 mins); Dunning for G Cox (extra time); G Ahearne (extra time), J Rogers for Dolan (extra time).
OFFALY: K Meehan; C Daly, G Rafferty, J Hurst; J Kenny, F Cullen (0-1), K Slattery (0-1); C McManus (0-1, free), J Grennan; C Quinn (0-7, frees), N Coughlin (0-2, one free), P Mulhare (0-1); J Reynolds (0-1), R Malone, N McNamee (0-1, free). Subs: B Mooney for P Mulhare (49 mins); V Claffey for McNamee (53 mins); S Grennan for Reynolds (66 mins); A McNamee for Malone (65 mins); P Kellaghan (1-0) for Coughlan (69 mins); M Mitchell for Cullen (extra time); S Sullivan for Rafferty (extra time).
Referee: M McGrath (Donegal).
