Roscommon joint-manager Kevin McStay says next weekend’s All-Ireland qualifier will test just how far his team have come this year.
McStay took over the Rossies alongside Fergal O’Donnell before the start of the season and they surprised many be staying in Division 1.
But they were hammered by Galway in Sunday’s Connacht final replay and now they have just six days to pick themselves up for an All-Ireland qualifier against either Clare or Derry next weekend.
“We had two tickets – we wanted to go through the front door, everyone knows that and going in as champions would have been very favourable,” said McStay.
“There’s another gate we have to go through and that’s what we’re going to have to do. It’s not over – this is a learning year for us and maybe we got a bit ahead of ourselves. This will be a nice tester next weekend; we’ll see where we are.”
Because the Connacht final went to a replay, Roscommon only have six days to recover before their backdoor game – traditionally something teams struggle with.
And given the way they played in their 3-16 to 0-14 demolition by the Tribesmen at MacHale Park they have a big job on their hands.
McStay admits that the Connacht final replay was over by half-time and afterwards he was still clearly shell-shocked by what he had witnessed.
“We never got going and Galway really flew into it and they had it wrapped up by half-time,” he explained.
“After half-time we were playing for pride, trying to get something out of the second half with one eye on next Saturday. We have to take our hats off to Galway and say it was a super effort by them.
“We were beaten in pretty much every position that I could see. We brought on a few lads to try to shake things up. The game was done and the goals knocked the whole oxygen out of the game – Galway flew into it and they won every position.”
Galway boss Kevin Walsh (above) was celebrating his county’s first Connacht title since 2008 and he says they did it the hard way.
“At the start of the season Mayo was the prime game we were looking at,” said the 1998 and 2001 All-Ireland winning midfielder.
“We always felt at the start of the season that we’d have to beat two Division 1 teams to win Connacht and with the replay we had three games against Division 1 teams. We knew that this was going to be a really, really tough Connacht to win.
“Sometimes when you see that the target ahead of you is so tough it helps focus the mind and the lads’ minds were focused today.”
