Davy Burke made no excuses for Roscommon after a flat performance saw them lose to Mayo by 0-15 to 0-9 in Division One of the Allianz National Football League.
Roscommon were hoping to build on the positivity of last weekend where they impressed against Monaghan but instead they’re straight back to the drawing board.
They showed glimpses of positivity in the first half but that was all overshadowed by a terrible second half display in which they only scored one point from play.
Kevin McStay’s team started very brightly early on, with forward Ryan O’Donoghue to the fore with two fine points from play. Aidan O’Shea and Fergal Boland also got in on the scoring act as Mayo raced into a 0-6 to 0-2 lead after 18 minutes of play.
But three brilliant Diarmuid Murtagh points dragged Roscommon back into contention, before Donie Smith and Daire Cregg also got on the scoreboard to leave just one point between the teams at half-time.
But that was as good as it got for the Rossies, who now lie sixth in the Division One table, right in the middle of a relegation dog-fight with the likes of Monaghan and Galway who face off today.
Speaking on TG4 after the game, Roscommon manager Davy Burke couldn’t hide his disappointment with the team’s display. He described the contest as ‘men against boys’ and pointed out that it took his team twenty minutes before they put a tackle in.
“I didn’t think we showed up for the first twenty at all to be honest with you,” said Burke.
“It was men against boys out there. And yeah we clawed it back to 0-7 0-6 at half-time, so it was a decent response, but we probably put an awful lot into that response and it probably cost us in the end.
“You have to put your hand up. Sometimes you’re just beaten.
“Mayo were far superior on the night. We fell away badly, at the end of the three week run, but Mayo are in the same position so no excuses,” he added.
If the first half was disappointing, the second half was even more so for Burke and his team, and he has put it up to them now ahead of two crunch clashes against Kerry and Derry in the coming weeks.
Roscommon have shown well in their home ground Dr Hyde Park this year and the Kildare man has called on his team to ‘defend that place with their lives.’
“Oh brilliant, yeah absolutely, we found out a good bit.
“Yeah it took us 20 minutes to put a tackle in, so yeah if you don’t tackle in Division One, you find out fairly quickly.
“Absolutely, we’ve learned plenty. I think there’s a fairly sore dressing room in there and who better than Kerry to come to the Hyde in two weeks.”
“Two points. Back in the Hyde, we’ve three from four there. We defend that place with our lives. So two points in two weeks time, nothing else is good enough.”
