O'Donnell hails his troops and looks forward to quarter-finals

Roscommon manager Fergal O'Donnell said he was particularly delighted for the more experienced players in his squad after last Sunday's sensational Connacht final victory over Sligo,. "I am delighted for the lads, especially the older lads, a lot of the younger lads have won at under-21, junior and minor," said O'Donnell,. Recalling the exciting close stages, O'Donnell picked out incidents such as "Karol Mannion's catch at 13-all" and Clann na nGael's John Dunning coming on and winning the late free, which led to Donie Shine kicking the winning point. "When Sligo got on a roll you would have said they were going to go on and win it or else it would go to a replay. This was our day, it was set up nicely for us, we were in under the radar and this was the day to do it. When you get your chance you have to take it," he said.. Last Sunday's victory represented an amazing contrast to Roscommon's last visit to McHale Park, where they were on the receiving end of a drubbing from Mayo. "Well, the thing was that twelve months ago we were naive ourselves and we played against the breeze which was a major mistake. You learn from all the big games and who would have thought that we would be here (today) and Mayo would not. But the reality is that Mayo and Galway will be back and stronger than ever so today was our chance and we took our chance," said O'Donnell, who captained Roscommon to their previous Connacht title in 2001. "Its a great win especially coming from where we were. It has been a very difficult year, I have to say that. The league was very disappointing and the last time we played Sligo in the league we lost by seven points so the end of the league was disappointing. But we set out our stall after the Wexford game. We knew that we had eight weeks to get ready before the London game and we trained hard after the Wexford game and when we played Clare in a challenge on the first of May, that was when we said that's our target." Looking forward to the All-Ireland quarter-finals, O'Donnell said: "Of course there is loads of work to be done but it's a great complaint. The only thing is that there would have been temptation there to use the likes of Senan Kilbride but you saw the ferocity there. You have to be seriously fit to play at this level. But the big thing is that we have to regroup. "Obviously with a small county like Roscommon we do tend to over celebrate these successes. But fellas have to get their feet back on the ground because the next day, we won't be under the radar as much. Obviously we won't be going in as favourites but we don't want to go up to Croke Park and get a trimming either."