FIVE years into their current hiatus, Roscommon footballers take the field in tomorrow's Bank of Ireland Connacht championship semi final against Mayo. The county has made a recent habit of disappearing from view when the future looks most promising.

Creditable losers to Kerry in the 1980 All Ireland final they took another 10 years to reemerge from Connacht. Narrowly pipped in a gripping semi final with Meath in 1991, they have only won a couple of championship matches since.

Donie Shine is their third manager of the last five years, succeeding Dermot Earley and Martin McDermott. By the time he took over, the county's self confidence was already in freefall.

"We took on a big job in Roscommon," he says, "heads were very low. Even though the work looks to be done, we won't know until Sunday but we need a win, a win could bring us a long way."

Roscommon need to travel a long way. Championship status has been accompanied by decline in the league and relegation to Division Three, two seasons ago. The failure to evacuate from there during the course of two winter campaigns has traced more boldly the question marks raised by championship failure.

Shine's attitude to the task in hand was realistic but he clearly regards the league as more of an irritant than a useful testing ground.

"I wanted to improve us as a team and get the best 30 players in the county involved. I knew I had to put down a good basis for the future. We need to win immediately but you can't throw your hat at it (planning for the future). It has to be done and there's no quicker way of doing it.

"My opinion is that a lot of emphasis - too much - is put on the league. In our first round against a super fit Sligo (last autumn) we were seven points down in 10 minutes. We struggled back into it and by the end of the season nearly got promoted. Sligo were relegated. It's difficult in the league because you need a certain level of fitness to survive against teams who are highly prepared.

"When you're doing a lot of stamina work and you've some players being trained for sharpness who are involved in Sigerson, you've got problems. There's too much emphasis on the league and too many colleges playing Sigerson.

A dismissive attitude to league progress might be viewed as a necessary measure to keep the opposition in proportion. Mayo have been Roscommon's tormentors in chief in recent times - defeating them in three of the last four championships, including a chastening put down last year.

Furthermore, since the arrival of John Maughan - who guided Clare to their miraculous Munster title in 1992 - in the manager's seat, Mayo showed sturdier winter virtues than in recent years and bounced straight back out of Division Three, taking in a league semi final against Derry.

Shine's background is impeccable. He played for the county in the 1970s but injuries disrupted his career and it is as a club manager that he was best known. His club Clan na Gael, from Johnstown, endured extremes of heartbreak well outside even the norms associated with Connacht football.

The dominant team in the province during the 1980s, Clan na Gael lost four successive All Ireland finals, 1987-90.

"It was very difficult but we were usually able to bounce back," says Shine. "Of the All Ireland finals, there was definitely two we should have won - I won't say which because it wouldn't be fair on the winning teams. But it was an achievement. Six years at the very top and we didn't get many breaks."

He was always likely to get a crack at the county job and eventually it arrived, two years ago.

"I had an interest and needed to get into inter county or stay out forever. I took a three year contract. Things haven't gone as well as I'd like injuries, the heads being down and the time getting used to my approach. But I hope it's going to be a lot better this year.