Brigid’s and Pearses look likely as southern powers aim to bounce back

Hodson Bay Group Roscommon Senior Football Championship preview

By Kevin Egan

There were probably a few wry smiles raised in the Strokestown dressing room when the opening round fixtures were released for the 2023 Roscommon SFC, and they learned that their first ‘defence’ of their title would involve a trip down south to take on Clann na nGael in Johnstown.

After 12 years of southern hegemony, the black and amber men swooped in last year to take advantage of a year when teams like St. Brigid’s, Pearses and Clann came back to meet the pack, and now one can imagine a mischievous Clann member deciding to leave a note in the dressing room for them this weekend, saying something like “you’ve had your fun, but now the big boys are back!”.

Of course, the thing about that is that we have no idea if the big boys are back.

What we can say with certainty is that it would be a massive shock if Strokestown were to retain their title. David Butler, Cathal Compton and Seán Mullooly are all gone for the year, meaning that they are without their starting midfield pairing and full-back from last year. Colm Neary, their tyro centre-back that was the find of the year, has struggled for fitness too, as has Shane McGinley, who was a vital part of their forward play.

For a team that had little or nothing to spare in any of their big games last year, those blows are unsustainable.

But it’s one thing to assert with confidence that there will be new champions when the dust settles in October – it’s another thing to say that it will be one of the local three that takes up the reins.

If you asked most supporters in the county to name the likely successor to the ‘Town, most would probably point at St. Brigid’s. The return of Ruaidhrí Fallon to action is like getting a new player, while Paul McGrath struggled with injuries for a long time last year and didn’t get to find his form, and this year he’ll be a lot more likely to play up to his own high standards.

Jerome Stack has had an extra year to work with his players, he has county players in every sector of the pitch, and strong showings at intermediate level and U-20 level last year are further proof that – as if we ever might have thought otherwise – there is no issue when it comes to depth in the club.

If we were to try and nitpick, we’d say that they are going into the first round of championship this Saturday and it’s still uncertain if they will play with a pure shot stopper – Evan Gallagher – in goal, or if they will look to go more ‘modern’ and play Cormac Sheehy as a footballing custodian. The two men split time pretty equally during the league, and it feels like this is a question that ideally would have been resolved by now.

What we can say with certainty is that while this weekend’s game in Kiltoom looks like a huge clash, both these teams will expect to get out of the group.

Pádraig Pearses are a side with plenty of upside too, as they face into the first real test of the Frank Canning era. Niall Daly and David Murray looked a lot fresher during the intercounty season and there are some very talented forwards poised and ready to burst onto the scene in Woodmount.

Would you pick any one of Eoin Colleran, Declan Kenny, Paul Carey or Jack Tumulty over Ben O’Carroll? Not right now, but Pearses don’t need them all to get to that standard, they just need one or two to raise their game a little bit, and suddenly they’ll have that little bit of magic up front, all the more if Hubert Darcy can pull the strings and use his size and experience.

Conor Ryan and Conor Lohan are two of the brightest young prospects in the county, bolstering a group that is already incredibly strong in the single digit jerseys, and while Lohan is currently abroad, he will return for the business end of the season.

We can say that both Pearses and Brigid’s will qualify, because both St. Dominic’s and Michael Glavey’s have been absolutely gutted with losses, and it’s impossible to see either of them pulling off an upset in this group without a full hand.

Andy Glennon, Dylan Ruane, Cathal Heneghan and a couple of other starters are all out of the reckoning for Iain Daly in Ballinlough, while on the St. Dominic’s side, Tom Appleby, Kyron Dockery, Brendan O’Meara, Michael Feeley, Michael Gavin, Michael Watson and Conor Fallon (senior) are all unavailable for a variety of reasons, with Keith Doyle currently on a 60-day sanction in the US.

Expect a dogfight in Knockcroghery this Friday, with the outlook very bleak for the losing side.

So, Brigid’s and Pearses look like they have a smooth path to the quarter-finals, and since their opponents at that stage will be the divisional sides of West Roscommon and North Roscommon – two teams that will presumably get very little time to work together due to the demands of the intermediate and junior clubs that provide those players – it looks like a straight enough path to the last four for both powerhouse sides.

Can we say the same about Clann? Not really, frankly. One would expect that the Johnstown men will improve under Pat Fallon, if for no other reason that it’s hard to see them playing as poorly as they did in 2022.

A chastising defeat to St. Brigid’s in last year’s championship quarter-final is the sort of thing that won’t be easily forgotten around Johnstown; the final score may have been 2-12 to 1-12 in that game, but St. Brigid’s were well in control up, leading by nine until Conor Farrell’s superb goal in the closing minutes.

This year, a host of younger players have got a lot more experience, they aren’t starting the year with half a team on the other side of the Atlantic, and players like David and Paul McManus have looked very good in the league.

On the other side of the ledger, Strokestown and Oran are dangerous opponents, and any Clann team without Ultan Harney in the mix is a much weaker side than they are with their talisman on the pitch. There’s too much talent to write them off, even with Feargal Lennon likely to miss the first couple of weeks, but they have a bit to prove before we could say with confidence that they are strong championship contenders.

That begs the question that outside of Brigid’s and Pearses, who are the championship contenders? Oran went well in the league but look frail defensively, while Roscommon Gaels won the league but have since lost their main man Richard Hughes to emigration. Add in the absence of Mark Healy, and they once more look like a side capable of an odd upset, but not beating three strong teams in successive knockout games.

Tulsk, Michael Glavey’s, Dominic’s, St. Faithleach’s and Western Gaels simply aren’t in that bracket, so that leaves the real wild cards – Boyle.

It could be argued that Cian Smith has at least as much talent at his disposal as Frank Canning or Jerome Stack, albeit he doesn’t have the depth, and he certainly doesn’t have the balance. A team with Enda Smith and Oisín Cregg at midfield, loading the bullets for Donie Smith, Cian McKeon and Daire Cregg in front of goal is pretty formidable, but their back line is ordinary.

However, the big question for Boyle is one of mindset. In that regard, one wonders if St. Brigid’s might have opened up Pandora’s box by not beating the north Roscommon men in last year’s semi-final. Up to that point, Boyle had developed a habit of misfiring in big knockout games against the southern powers. Now, they’re unlikely to feel that crushing psychological pressure.

Likewise, will they see last year’s county final defeat to Strokestown as a glorious, potentially once-in-a-lifetime chance spurned, or was it a game that they would have won but for an unfortunate injury to key forward Cian McKeon?

If it’s the latter, then one could argue that Boyle might even split Brigid’s and Pearses – not quite as complete a setup as the Kiltoom men, but possibly even a fraction ahead of Pearses in the pecking order. If not, then this Saturday’s big showdown in Kiltoom could yet be a forerunner to a repeat clash in the 2023 county final. The big boys are back. Probably.