Ditching of egos the catalyst for Roscommon win
ROSCOMMON captain Conor Devaney has admitted that established players are still getting used to the fact that their positions aren’t safe. Kevin McStay handed starts to a whopping 28 different players over the course of the Rossies’ successful Division 2 campaign.
It climaxed with Sunday’s Division 2 final win over Cavan when Cathal Cregg, normally a first-team player, came off the bench for the fourth game running and scored 2-1.
Enda Smith, an All-Star nominee last year, came on for the fourth game running, too, while established duo Niall McInerney and Niall Daly were also used as impact subs.
McStay said afterwards that ‘it’s a culture thing’ that Roscommon players have to buy into, claiming modern footballers ‘are just wrecked with 20 minutes to go’.
‘Some fellas can buy into it a bit better, you just have to park your ego, just do it solely for the team,’ said boss McStay.
Skipper Devaney is one of only five players to start all Roscommon’s League games and said it’s a big change for players previously used to being guaranteed a start.
‘It’s a big shift in mindset for all of us,’ said Devaney.
‘I know when we’re playing New York or Leitrim in our next competitive game, I won’t be sure what position I’m going to be in, and I won’t be sure whether I’m going to be contributing off the bench or starting. I think people realise that’s the way it has to be now.
‘If you look at any team, you have to weigh up the opposition and see if certain personnel would be better off coming off the bench in that game, or not. It’s hard to get used to that frame of mind but we are definitely getting there.’
McStay is ultimately trying to build a panel capable of challenging for major honours.
But both he and Devaney stopped well short of tipping them for All-Ireland success after beating Cavan in the eightgoal thriller.
Back in 2015 when they beat Down in the Division 2 decider, then boss John Evans famously said his team were ‘going to the top’ and were targeting an All-Ireland.
Roscommon are hot tips to take care of Leitrim or New York next month and return to the Connacht final, leaving them on the brink of the new Super 8s.
‘I think that’s a target over the next few years, definitely, to get to the Super 8s fairly consistently,’ said Devaney.
‘This year, it’s really just to try to get to the Connacht final and have a competitive game there and then try to get to the Super 8s. Over the next few years, I think getting to that group stage regularly would be the goal.’
Devaney revealed his delight at lifting the Division 2 trophy on Sunday.
‘It was very satisfying, the main reason being that it was a good experience in Croke Park, whereas our previous experience in Croke Park wasn’t great, so it was great to get up there and perform,’ he said.
‘Obviously there were a lot of things we didn’t do well but all in all, we got the win and it’s important for this team to have some success there.
‘Going back to the Mayo game there last August, we felt that we totally underperformed, even though Mayo were that much ahead of us. So it was great to leave this time with some winning experience coming into summer.’