Roscommon face stern test against Tyrone

Roscommon minors face a very difficult assignment in the All-Ireland quarter-finals this Saturday, when they take on Ulster champions Tyrone at Pearse Park, Longford (throw-in: 3.45pm). Tyrone recently put a halt to the Westmeath senior team"s march in the All-Ireland Football Championship. Now the minor players of neighbours Roscommon will be hoping to avoid a similar fate when they come up against the northerners this Saturday. Gary Wynne"s team face a major challenge against the Red Hand county, who overcame Monaghan by 0-13 to 0-10 in their provincial decider. After Roscommon"s loss by the same margin in the Connaught final (a 0-10 to 0-7 defeat against Mayo), their manager was critical of the number of scoring chances that had been missed over the course of the game, and he will surely be looking to avoid similar wastefulness this weekend. The nearby venue of Pearse Park will be seen as a boost for Roscommon. Interestingly, two members of the Roscommon squad, Eoin Sheehy (St Brigid"s) and Niall Daly (Padraig Pearses) were part of the Athlone Community College team who won the Leinster Colleges SF "A" at Longford GAA headquarters earlier this year. St Patrick"s, Dungannon went on to knock Athlone CC out in the race for the Hogan Cup at the All-Ireland semi-final stage, and some of the Dungannon players are likely to feature for Tyrone on Saturday. Clann na nGael duo Dara Lennon and Cathal Shine are among the key players in the Roscommon team. Saturday"s game will be preceded by the MFC quarter-final between Mayo and Monaghan (2pm). The other quarter-finals see Offaly face Munster champions Kerry, and Leinster champions Meath take on Tipperary.