You can almost hear the hindsight police coming along and pretending to take offence to this.
You can nearly see them readying their pitchforks, about to blame Roscommon’s collapse on a split second of craic that two friends had before the game.
However things ended in Croke Park, the Rossies can be proud of their season’s efforts.
Kevin McStay said at the start of the summer that he firmly believed they were in the top eight counties in Ireland and here they were in a replay with Mayo in the All-Ireland quarter-finals having shaken the life out of them the first day out. A Connacht title along the way simply vindicated their manager who did it all without a host of serious names. Veteran names.
And it caught up with them for 20 odd minutes in Dublin and that was enough to end their campaign.
“A young team got jumped on by a very experienced team,” McStay summed up in a very admirable interview after the game.
“We never got off the blocks and they just went for the jugular.”
"We didn't see it coming" – Kevin McStay sums up Roscommon's heavy loss to Mayo pic.twitter.com/YXJVkEdJOB
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) August 7, 2017
McStay is one of the most likable personalities in football right now.
He’s held himself with pure dignity in the face of unjust adversity this year and he produced a tactical masterclass that wowed the country and ambushed Galway in Salthill.
Time after time, he felt the need to reassure the public that the Roscommon camp was a happy and united one but he had to wait to prove it.
Come the bank holiday Monday at headquarters, there was no denying the closeness of the group.
During the national anthem as the yellow jerseys went shoulder to shoulder for one last time this year, Sean Mullooly showed his true affection for his team mate Cathal Compton.
A gentle caress of the cheek, two mischievous grins and you get the picture that this is a band of brothers with good spirit and high morale.
They’ll be back again next year. And they’ll be smiling along the way too.
Thanks to Cian Ansbro for sending this our way. If you have any pieces of content you’d like to share with us, hit us up on Facebook or Twitter or send us an email at editorial@SportsJOE.ie.
