Roscommon's Ciaran Murtagh believes his side are "in a better place" as they prepare for a rematch with the Sligo team that beat them last year in Sunday's Connacht SFC semi-final.
Sligo upset the form-book at the same stage last year but Murtagh is adamant that the Rossies won't repeat the mistakes of 12 months ago.
“We learnt a lot from the loss last year. Sligo really showed us how to play football," he told RTÉ Sport.
“We were hurt but we really focused on it and did some video work on it.
“The players have learnt a lot from that game, as have the management. When you lose or win a game, you know what you’ve done right or wrong.
“This year, our heads in a better place. We’re in a different mindset and we’re really ready for Sunday; we’re looking forward to it."
Roscommon had a successful League campaign, defying many pundits' prediction that they would be fighting relegation with wins over Kerry, Cork, Donegal and Down.
A heavy defeat by Kerry followed in the semi-final though, and the Rossies just escaped a huge shock with a one-point win in New York.
They steadied the ship with a 1-21 to 0-11 point win over Leitrim in the provincial quarter-final, however, and Murtagh, who is joined in attack by his brother Diarmuid, is hopeful that his team have rediscovered their early-season swagger.
“I think you could see the potential we have from the League games," he said. “We played some very good games and got some very good results that people weren’t expecting.
“Then again, we had some bad games. We lost some form and the confidence went a bit but we’re hoping to get the confidence back now and battle on into the late summer.
“We got a wake-up call in New York. They have some very good players but we did the basics wrong. We moved on to the Leitrim game and they gave us a very tough game as well.
“We’ve learned a lot from those two games and it’s very good to have two championship games played before we move on to Sligo. Sligo will be ready for us.”
Roscommon will play at Dr Hyde Park on Sunday after being forced to move home League games from the venue to Longford (Down match) and Carrick-On-Shannon, which hosted the visit of Dublin after a controversial late switch.
The surface is in perfect condition for this weekend's game but will be replaced by an all-weather pitch for next winter.
Murtagh is delighted at the chance to play in front of a partisan Roscommon crowd.
“Last year we played Sligo in Sligo," he reflected. "It’s huge when you have home advantage and the crowd.
“This year it’s great to be playing in the Hyde. It’s going to be dug up after the game so it’s massive for us to have a home Connacht semi-final.
“Hopefully the crowd will come out and give us that extra push on when we need it.
“You want to be playing all your games on a perfect surface like it is today. The groundsman has been doing a great job over the last month looking after it.
“A few league games, people would have talked about it being wet and stuff but you can’t control the weather. Hopefully the weather holds up and the pitch will be perfect to go on Sunday.”
