Galway primed to gain revenge on Roscommon in Connacht final

IT is hard to credit that just less than a year ago Roscommon footballers sent Galway into temporary freefall with a resounding Connacht final victory at Pearse Stadium after being virtually written off in the run-up to the provincial decider.

Since then a lot has happened in both counties – most of it positive – but the build-up to Sunday’s Connacht final at Dr. Hyde Park (4pm) pretty much replicates what was happening last year.

Galway, after an invigorating Division 1 league campaign that brought them to a final showdown with All-Ireland champions Dublin, are red hot favourites at 4/9 to regain their Connacht title but the bookies’ odds won’t bother Kevin McStay’s charges one jot.

Roscommon also enjoyed a very productive Spring, winning promotion back to Division 1 after a one-year exile, before going on to take the Division 2 title thanks to a 4-16 to 4-12 ‘shoot-out’ victory over Cavan in Croke Park.

The Rossies are available at 9/4 with the bookies and those odds will be taken up by a fair quota of their die-hard fans, who will fancy their chances on home soil, of emulating last year’s success in Salthill.

Without doubt, Roscommon are settled and ready for this tie, with McStay not beating around the bush as regards team selection, his starting fifteen being announced at the weekend with 33 fit players out of a panel of 34.

Their only absentee is Ciarán Lennon – out with a broken thumb – as Roscommon make no changes from the side that defeated Leitrim by 0-24 to 0-10 at Carrick-on-Shannon a couple of weeks back.

Twelve different players scored in that defeat of Leitrim and a feature of Roscommon’s National League journey through Division 2 was their scoring exploits, with their only faux pas coming against Down early on in the campaign, when they only clocked up seven points.

That has very much been the exception with them. They put together some huge scores though in their other seven matches: 0-17 v. Cork; 0-15, Cavan; 2-19, Clare; 1-21, Louth; 1-17, Tipperary; 2-12, Meath and a quite remarkable 4-16 in the Division 2 decider against Cavan.

Galway on the other hand have enjoyed the considerable advantage of playing against higher quality and faster teams in Division 1 of the league with wins over Tyrone, Monaghan, Mayo, Kerry, Donegal and Kildare, as well as a credible draw against Dublin in Pearse Stadium, and an honourable four-point defeat (0-18 to 0-14) against the All-Ireland champions in the league decider.

Last year, Roscommon might have ended up close to the bottom of Division 1, but like Galway this year, they did have the advantage of playing their Spring football at the higher level – and it told last July in Salthill.

Full preview in this week’s Connacht Tribune.