GAELIC GAMES:THE PAST weekend of football action handed us plenty of positive information about the state of affairs in Carlow and Roscommon.
Vastly contrasting in their stages of development but both are on an upward curve.
Luke Dempsey has been ploughing away in the midlands for three years now. A few weeks back the Carlow management stopped chasing as many as 14 players who were not providing full commitment to the cause and instead settled on a panel of 26 largely young players coming out of two respectable under-21 campaigns.
Dempsey was keen to laud the performance of untested full-back Conor Lawlor, who kept Shane Lennon to 0-2 from play, in Sunday’s 0-14 to 0-13 defeat of Louth and the contribution of the all native management, especially trainer Wayne Middleton.
However, it was Brendan Murphy who assumed the heroic mantle having kicked three of the last four unanswered points, including a sideline and the winner in the fourth minute of injury-time.
That the former Sydney Swan recruit only rejoined the group two weeks ago makes his achievement all the more remarkable.
“He injured ankle ligaments in just our second match of the league against Fermanagh,” said Dempsey. “He also had to commit to his army training so we didn’t have him from the second week in February until about two weeks ago when he passed out and became a qualified soldier.
“Then against Cavan in a recent challenge match he injured the other ankle.
“Strained ligaments but he made it through Sunday. What was so remarkable about his last 10 minutes was the contrast in performance up to that, ironically enough.”
So while Carlow have earned a chance at making a Leinster final when they meet Wexford in two weeks time in Croke Park, Roscommon would be forgiven for thinking about dynasty building after they destroyed Leitrim 2-12 to 0-6 on Sunday. Their manager, Fergal O’Donnell, spoke afterwards about the team needing another few years to really mature and the evidence of last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Cork supports that. However, they are one victory away from defending a Connacht title.
More importantly they are made up of a hugely impressive minor All-Ireland-winning group from 2006. “I suppose we are all 22 or 23 now so it is time that we moved on from that and started winning things at a bigger level,” said their star forward Donie Shine, who bagged a brilliant goal in Carrick-on-Shannon.
“We just want to drive on now and see can we win consistently every year and this is a good start.”
Already it is being spoken about being a poor time for Connacht football, something Shine and company are keen to prove is not the case just because Mayo and Galway are not dominating. “We have plenty of motivation with the things that have been said about us, about how last year was a bit of a fluke and all that,” Shine continued.
“So we have plenty of motivation to prove ourselves this year. We have a right good team and we have a few new players in this year that we did not have last year; Conor Devaney was in the States last year and Senan Kilbride was injured.
“They are two great players and to get those players into your panel makes a huge difference.”
That can be confirmed or dismissed in the Connacht final on July 17th.
