“The fallout from the Kevin McStay and Fergal O’Donnell duo has caused a divide”

Who’d be a manager?

It’s annoying that Kevin McStay feels the need to even answer questions like he had to on Sunday but such is the cruel business of football.

Roscommon have lost to Donegal, to Mayo, to Tyrone and Kerry – four of the five best teams in the country – and some eejits are raising eyebrows at his Mayo roots now.

This was great from McStay https://t.co/f7vWV4oDYA

— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) March 7, 2017

It’s no secret that there are some issues underlying though. Players – good players – are off the panel and the joint manager and two selectors from last year are no longer involved.

There are some easy explanations for some absences. Neil Collins is away, Niall Carthy has retired, but then others would throw names like Niall, Conor and Ronan Daly up and rightly so.

On The GAA Hour football show, Rossies legend Shane Curran tried his best to clear up the issues.

“We have to deal not in the theory and not in the rumour but in the fact. I don’t buy into the rumours,” he told SportsJOE.

“I would have to say though that there are players who aren’t in the Roscommon panel at the moment who, for one reason or the other, I believe they should be.

“Is it because Fergal’s not on the management team now or the way it happened? I don’t know. What I do know is that the fall-out from the Kevin and Fergal duo last year has created a divide that has probably run deep for some players.

“Some players obviously were loyal to Fergal and I think that’s acceptable in some cases that that could happen. Could the breakup have been any cleaner? I don’t think it could have been, to be fair. Kevin did give Fergal the opportunity to go for the job.”

But Cake does see where there could be a problem.

“Kevin did stay and started with a new slate. Maybe this is where there’s a bit of antagonism in the county in that there’s a little bit of a follow on from last year and that maybe the new slate wasn’t totally wiped clean and that everybody hasn’t been given a fair crack at the whip,” Curran explained.

“That’s a criticism of the management without a doubt. It’s one that Kevin will have to stand over, those decisions not to wipe the slate clean and bring everybody in.

“I always say, ‘let players play themselves off the team.’ Don’t leave them off and don’t create a stick for your own back. 

“He’s made particular decisions in terms of some of the players. It’s regretful that some of them aren’t playing for Roscommon but that’s life.”

Listen to the whole interview below (from 22:10).

The FootballJOE quiz: Were you paying attention? – episode 10