McStay insists Rossies are on the right path
Connacht side one win away from a spot in the Super 8s
HIS team are supping in the last chance saloon, but it’s the manner of how others are being hung out to dry which engages and outrages Kevin McStay.
He does not need anyone to tell him what is at stake when the ball is thrown in at Portlaoise today between Roscommon and Armagh.
From the outset, making the Super 8s was the be all and end all to Roscommon’s season, insisting even prior to their failed defence of the Connacht title against Galway that they had two chances of getting there.
History tells us that if Roscommon do not take the first chance, the second chance tends to be of little use.
On the four occasions they have reached the last eight, on three — including last year — they did so by winning Connacht. The exception was in 2003, when they found their way there all the way from the lower reaches of the first round of the All-Ireland qualifiers.
But here’s the stat that spooks; in the three occasions, 2004, 2011 and, under his watch, in 2016, where they have reached the fourth round by virtue of reaching and losing the Connacht final they have never made it to the last eight.
He senses that they are in a better place this time because the prize of what they are playing for is so huge that it has numbed the sense of loss from last month.
The way he sees it, they are playing for three quarter-finals for the price of one.
Even more than that, they are playing for a place in Gaelic football’s ultimate college.
That explains why he is so infuriated by what he labels the ‘ridiculous critique’ of those in the punditry business he chose to leave behind, who might as well be looking at account ledgers as football games.
Credit and debit, win and lose, if football was played on spreadsheets what would be the point, he wonders.
‘We have to stop this thing where if you win a big game you are brilliant, you lose it you are useless. There is a thing called development and it is not measured in days or weeks. ‘I heard Sean Cavanagh, (saying) that it took four weeks to perfect the Tyrone defensive system. ‘Conditioning, the experience of getting used to big games, getting used to Croke Park, to the tension when you reach that stage, all of that takes three or four years, particularly if you are a team trying to get a leg up. ‘Our sense is after the Connacht final, we were not far off them (Galway), we were level with them with a minute and a half to go in normal time and we missed some great chances.
‘In the same way last year everybody completely derided Galway and Kevin Walsh after we beat them and a year later is anyone doing it now?
‘That was part of their development, trying to find that consistency, trying to become more organised and that is where teams like Roscommon and Armagh are at. We are trying to progress through those phases of development.
‘What is frustrating managers and players is when they read these broad-brush analysis by a pundit or journalist who reaches sweeping conclusions on the basis one or two games,’ insists McStay, who insists his passion is not taking its heat from his experience over the past three weeks.
Perhaps not, but he is niggled by the line their season is something which has fallen out of a lucky bag rather than progress.
‘So far we won Division 2, got promotion back to Division 1, got very close to a top-ranked team in the Connacht final and yet all people want to talk about is that we got Leitrim in a semifinal and I now hear people saying “now ye got Armagh as well, it must be great to be so lucky with those draws”.
No one is saying, “ye put up a great show against the third ranked team in the country”.
‘Cork are not going to recover overnight, Roscommon are not going to be a top team overnight because it just can’t be done.
‘It is called development and progress and you have to put in the structures to make sure that happens.
‘I am very passionate about that because I am meeting fellow county managers after games and they are so frustrated by the level of ridiculous critique that some people are throwing down upon them.’
Should they fail to win today, he
may need to take some cover for the bile that could flow.
The truth is though that there is nothing can be said from the outside that is likely to be as harsh as the talking he will give to himself if that happens.
They are a team operating at a higher level than Armagh and the experience of two years ago when they lost to Clare at this stage should stand to them.
But they had only six days to recover after losing a Connacht final back then, whereas now they are in a far better place.
‘In terms of time, the three weeks is perfect. The first week is a write-off in terms of preparation because, after a game like the Galway game, you are grieving for what you lost.
‘I decided a couple of weeks ago that it did not matter who came out of the hat and I am being quite truthful about that. It was going to be about how we reacted, recovered, how we trained and how we approached round four.
‘If you strip it all back, as long as you are not drawing Dublin or Kerry, after that you have as much a chance of beating any of those teams as anyone else.
Look what Kildare did to Mayo after the season that they have had. If your attitude and conditioning is good, and you are not plagued with injuries or suspension it means that you are going to be competitive.
‘It is about us because that is where we are at. We are at the last chance saloon now.
‘I will be massively disappointed if we don’t give this a good shot and go forward in the competition.’
Game on.