When he took on the senior job late last winter, Davy Burke's first target was to stop Roscommon's trend of bouncing between Division 1 and Division 2 as had been the case for the past five seasons.
At just 34, Burke was highly rated in the managerial game having started coaching at only 15 years of age.
Not long after he took the Rossies job, he reminded everyone of that reputation when he led Maynooth University to the All-Ireland colleges title with a last-gasp triumph over UCD in the Ryan Cup final.
Previous to that he’d taken charge of Wicklow at the end of 2019 and led them to promotion to Division 3 a year later, a status they retained in 2021, which was an even bigger achievement.
And at club level, the Confey man also guided Sarsfields to a Kildare county title in 2019.
Though only appointed late in 2022, Burke was intent on finalising the quality backroom team with Roscommon.
Former Donegal player Mark McHugh has quickly established himself as a bright young coach, while the renowned former Sligo footballer Gerry McGowan, who had worked with Colm Collins in Clare, was also installed as a coach.
Eddie Lohan came in as selector, Noel Flynn the head of S&C. After a fruitful term with the Meath ladies' footballers, Kelley Fay was introduced as the team’s performance psychologist and Mayo’s Leo Tierney was retained as goalkeeping coach.
With the backroom assembled it was time to look at the players.
Trials were held and in the region of 90 footballers were scouted in this period.
From the off they knew they would be without Ronan Daly for the 2023 season after the defender relocated to Dubai, while midfield colossus Ultan Harney has also opted out of the squad to go travelling. On the plus side, there were returns for attacker Cian Connolly and midfielder Tadhg O’Rourke.
Burke kept an open mind to unearthing new talent as well as retaining the quality players like the Murtaghs, Ciaráin and Diarmuid, Donie Smith, key figures that had flourished during Anthony Cunningham’s stint in charge.
The season got off to a good start with a 3-17 to 2-13 win over Sligo in the FBD Connacht Football League semi-final with eight different scorers raising flags.
In the FBD final, they were slow out of the blocks, however, and struggled to break down Mayo’s defensive structure, a unit that Stephen Rochford and Donie Buckley had been working hard on over the previous number of weeks.
What would have been disappointing for Burke in that final was that they only opened their account after 21 minutes, picking off scores and making opportunities count would be key. Losing 0-13-0-9, they set their eyes on the Allianz League.
At the end of January, the Rossies raised eyebrows by beating Tyrone 3-11 to 1-12.
The pre-match narrative had centred around a Tyrone side intent on making up for a poor 2022 up against a side that looked odds-on to be relegated at the end of the campaign.
Burke and his men tore up that script. In their previous 18 top flight league games they had only managed two wins, but their new manager’s balanced approach helped eke out victory.
It was done with the deftest balancing of talent. Conor Carroll, Robbie Dolan, Ben O’Carroll all made their debuts, while experienced campaigners like Enda and Donie Smith and Ciaráin Murtagh all came off the bench to good effect.
Burke’s target of staying in Division 1 and ending spring with 26 players of championship standard was off to a flyer.
The selection of Oranmore/Maree’s Conor Carroll has been significant.
Carroll, a former underage Galway player, was named in the Electric Ireland GAA Rising Stars Football Team of the Year last season and was a member of the Roscommon U20 team that reached the 2021 All-Ireland final, losing by three points to Offaly.
With the senior team thus far, he has starred in a proactive 'fly' goalkeeping role, as he likes to get on the ball. This style – and his kick-outs - have helped set the tone for the robust, high-intensity game that the manager demands of his players.
Carroll was again between the posts in round two when Roscommon came from four points behind to score five unanswered points and get a first league win away to Galway in 20 years.
Last weekend Roscommon made it three in a row with a 1-12 to 0-12 win over Armagh, with a crowd of approximately 8,000 present to witness the home side continue their 100% start to the season.
While Cork were relegated from Division 1 despite having six points in 2016 - the Rebels lost out on scoring difference to Monaghan - half a dozen points is typically enough to avoid relegation concerns.
Roscommon open their Connacht campaign in Castlebar against Mayo on 9 April, but that will be just two weeks after their last league game against Donegal. The league final comes in between those fixtures.
How far they go in the rest of this league remains to be seen.
But one thing is for certain, it will go against all Davy Burke knows not to go full throttle for any silverware that lies ahead of him.
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