Pressure is on McStay

KEVIN McSTAY’S first year in sole charge of Roscommon is already looking like an uphill struggle.

There was no huge surprise in their Allianz League first round defeat away to Tyrone last Sunday but the men from the west may find themselves under pressure to survive in the top tier if they lose to visiting Donegal this afternoon.

Beating the Ulster men would be difficult enough in normal circumstances but it looks as if McStay’s side will have to battle at Dr Hyde Park today without influential midfielder Niall Daly who is understood to have quit the panel.

Daly was taken off at the interval in Omagh last weekend and his decision to quit is the lastest blow for a manager coping with the withdrawal of a number of last term’s key personnel from his squad.

Roscommon wobbled against New York in the Connacht Championship and exited in tame fashion to Clare in the All-Ireland qualifiers, their difficulties perhaps partly explained by peaking in the League after they made it to the semi-finals.

In light of the mounting absentees from the squad, such a situation is unlikely to be visited on McStay this term.