Roscommon played like a team with a chip on their shoulder in their Connacht Championship quarter final win over Mayo, and their manager Davy Burke didn’t shy away from that fact after the game.
The Kildare man says that his team felt ‘completely written off’ in the build-up. As history has so often proved, there’s nothing like a team with a point to prove and, from the word go, the Rossies played with a bite and an edge that was plain to see.
The Castlebar conditions weren’t conducive to good football, they were more conducive to a dog-fight and from one to fifteen, Roscommon started the game like dogs of war.
Against a strong breeze, they did cough up a few early chances against but, having dodged the bullets, once Mayo didn’t take them, with Stephen Coen and Tommy Conroy missing their opportunities, a sense of belief coursed through the Roscommon team.
From the moment Enda Smith slotted a first half penalty, they never really looked like losing.
The Rossies hunted in packs throughout, and this togetherness was best captured in their pursuit of Mayo talisman Aidan O’Shea. Roscommon backs seemed to surround him every time he got on the ball.
Speaking on Sunday Sport after the game, Roscommon manager Davy Burke was a proud man after the game, and he said that this was something the team had targeted from the very first day he met them.
“I thought there was a lot of disrespect during the week,” Burke told RTÉ Radio 1’s Sunday Sport.
“We finished third in Division 1. On merit. And we were completely written off.
“You’d swear we were a lower level team altogether. I’m sure our boys were frustrated by that and I’m glad they put it right.”
“It was a brilliant, intense game of football. Unbelievable. Fair play to the lads. First time, I met them, they said ‘Easter Sunday, we’ll be ready.’
“They were ready.”
Roscommon will now advance to a Connacht semi-final, where they’ll take on Galway in two weeks time, but Burke did say that the team will enjoy and celebrate this win.
“We’ll have to enjoy tonight. You have to enjoy the wins as well. We work hard enough. We’re six and seven months on the road so we’ll enjoy tonight and tomorrow.
