Victory over Armagh has restored belief in Ros' ranks - Mannion

ROSCOMMON senior footballers face a potentially gruelling task when they face Tyrone in the second round of All-Ireland SFC Qualifiers on Saturday (Dr Hyde Park, 2pm), but long-serving midfielder Karol Mannion remains undaunted by the scale of the challenge that lies ahead. In their first outing in the Connacht SFC, Roscommon were put to the sword by Galway on a scoreline of 3-15 to 0-10, a performance that ultimately led to widespread criticism of manager Des Newton and his players. However, against all odds, the Rossies' bounced back in thoroughly unexpected style, producing a remarkable second half comeback to stun the Armagh on a 1-11 to 1-9 scoreline. Roscommon's joy at beating the Orchard men was short-lived though, as the draw for the second round qualifiers pitted them against Tyrone, the All-Ireland champions from 2008, and Ulster kingpins from 2009 and 2010. The O'Neill County defeated Roscommon in the fourth round of last year's All-Ireland Qualifiers (3-19 to 1-14) to set up a quarter-final meeting with eventual winners Dublin. And despite an eleven-point margin of victory for Tyrone that day, Roscommon's gritty performance, which included a 27th-minute goal by St Brigid's stalwart Mannion (to put them four points ahead), was roundly applauded. This year, Tyrone exited the Ulster SFC at the semi-final stage, losing to Donegal, and will be eager to atone for their exit at the Hyde. But Mannion, consistently a mainstay of Roscommon's midfield for many years, is not fazed by the opposition. "We certainly go into the game as massive underdogs and Tyrone must be respected for everything they've achieved, not only as a county, but also as individual players. I'm sure a few people think our win over Armagh was just a flash in the pan as well, particularly after what happened against Galway, but our confidence is up after the Armagh game, and with home advantage on our side, we believe we can beat Tyrone. It's obviously a very difficult challenge, but the same could be said for Armagh and we managed to pull through it," he said. Mannion admitted the performance against Galway was "worthy of every bit of criticism we received", and not good enough for Roscommon football. But he believes the Armagh game showed a truer reflection of Roscommon's abilities. "I think the Armagh performance was more in keeping with what Roscommon have managed to do quite consistently over a number of years. We completely flopped against Galway, there's no getting away from that, and we hadn't a foot to stand on after that display. "But I suppose it gave us extra motivation against Armagh, and those type of performances are definitely within this Roscommon team. It's just a matter of having everybody tuned-in on the day, and getting that big performance out of everyone, and I'm confident we can see that level of performance against Tyrone. We're going to need to reach high standards if we're going to beat Tyrone," he said. Roscommon don't have any new injury worries to concern them, but Cathal Dineen continues to miss out. Michael Finneran, of St Dominic's, carried an ankle injury into the Armagh game but came through unscathed and seems fine to take his place in the set-up on Saturday. Clann's Cathal Duignan, who is not expected to start the match, also picked up an injury during the week but could still be available for selection. Mannion said it's "a big weekend" for Roscommon, with the minors also contesting the Connacht final on Sunday, but is unsure whether many Roscommon can banish the harsh memories of the recent Galway hammering ahead of the Tyrone fixture. "We're hoping people will come to the Hyde and get behind us, it's always great to have a vocal Roscommon crowd on your side," he said. "However, I'm not sure the hurt of the Galway game has subsided fully yet. It appears beating Armagh isn't good enough for some people, and they still harbour major disappointment from the Galway game. But that's in the past now, and there's nothing anybody can do about it, only concentrate on trying to win the next game against Tyrone. We bounced back well after the Galway game, and to beat Armagh is no mean feat, so hopefully people will give us the support we need on Saturday," added Karol. After some rumours circulated earlier this week that the Tyrone game could be moved from Dr Hyde Park - due to a combination of inclement weather and the double-header fixed for the Hyde on Sunday - the Roscommon County Board issued a statement to quell such speculation. On Tuesday afternoon, the County Board announced on their official Twitter account: "Despite reports elsewhere we can confirm that there are currently no plans to move Saturday's Roscommon v Tyrone game from Dr Hyde Park".