Having eliminated the province’s two heavyweights, Sligo are now hot favourites to finish the job against a Roscommon side that made little noise on the other side of the draw.
Sligo’s progression under Kevin Walsh has been excellent, and a surprise to many who assumed that the Yeatsmen’s Connacht final success in 2007 would be as much as a county who has only won the Nestor Cup three times could hope for.
But Sligo should have beaten Kerry in the qualifiers last year, and probably would have had corner-forward David Kelly not fluffed his lines with a late penalty.
They then went on to win Division 3 of the National League, before embarking on a brilliant Connacht campaign to date.
And if Kelly was the villain of the piece last year, he has been one of the heroes in 2010. He has been humble enough to admit that the service he has been receiving has been quality, but he has been doing his job once in possession.
One of the other striking aspects of the Sligo squad is their strength-in-depth, with Sean Davey Kenneth Sweeney and Colm McGee all making a positive impact off the bench in the semi-final replay win over Galway.
Roscommon do not have such luxuries, and indeed the over-reliance on Donie Shine for scores has long been touted as one of their main problems. The Clann na nGael clubman accounted for 1-07 of the Rossies’ 1-13 semi-final total against Leitrim.
They enjoyed All-Ireland Minor success in 2006, but that historic win has not had the positive impact on the senior set-up that Roscommon fans had hoped. They have nine barren years at provincial level, with their only final appearance in the interim coming in 2004 against Mayo.
The one thing Roscommon do have in their favour is a lack of expectation. While they would have been expected to overcome London and Leitrim, few would have been counting on a Connacht final win. They would usually feel more confident facing Sligo, rather than Mayo or Galway, but the Yeatsmen have proven themselves a more potent force than the traditional powers.
This summer has thrown up plenty of surprising results, and in that context you wouldn’t write Roscommon off completely. However it would take a significant improvement from them to land a 20th Connacht title.
Verdict: Sligo
