Rossies’ Carlsberg weekend and Armagh date with destiny

Needless to say, Roscommon supporters were quick to contact me on Saturday evening. Just to check in on how I was, which was much appreciated.

I was informed by one correspondent that there was a party scheduled for the cemetery beside the Hyde, although it was Mayo’s grave that they were dancing on.

No doubt, it was a Carlsberg weekend from the Rossies’ perspective, with their superb win over Tyrone in Omagh and then watching Mayo being dumped out in an agonising fashion in Castlebar.

Another MacHale Park letdown and a reminder that having your home ground as your bogey ground is probably not ideal. (I’m thinking now there was method to Aidan O’Shea’s thinking when he turned down the point last year against Cork and took third spot in the group instead).

The sense of deflation here is fairly acute.

You can lament the championship format all you want. And for sure, there’s something particularly odd about the fact that Mayo seemed to have spent most of the summer beating Roscommon and yet find themselves out of the championship earlier than their neighbours for the first time since 2018.

But the system, wacky and all as it is, was known at the outset.

The central fact is that Mayo were in a winning position in injury-time in three big championship games this summer and failed to win any of them.

It’s a team in transition at the moment and I feel they did make progress in plenty of respects this year but this inability to close out games is a tendency they’ll have to nip in the bud sooner rather than later. It’s an easy rut to fall into. We’ve given Armagh enough grief about it in the last half-decade.

Our year is done but the provincial neighbours still have a puncher’s chance. Whether they can land any more decisive blows is another question.

We’ve been saying for a while that Roscommon’s forwards are brilliant, on paper. Combined with the fact that Tyrone’s defence has been pretty loose and porous for some time, I anticipated a shootout in Healy Park.

What was a surprise was how the Roscommon defence coped so well with the threat of Darragh Canavan and co up front, especially when they came under heavy pressure in the second half.

Roscommon were able to survive after half-time with minimal possession because of the efficiency of their forwards. Daire Cregg and Diarmuid Murtagh were nearly in shoot-on-sight mood on Saturday.

Cregg’s last point typified their approach. He won possession under huge pressure and, without a second thought, swung a shot on the spin and the ball ballooned over the crossbar. Murtagh is close to All-Star form this summer and he was absolutely sensational the last day.

It’s a sign of their depth in attack that they didn’t even have Ben O’Carroll to call upon.

They have so much less baggage heading into Saturday’s quarter-final than their opponents. It’ll be a big ask for them to win their first championship game at Croke Park in four and a half decades.

As usual, so much will hinge on Armagh’s mentality. We saw in Celtic Park how potent they are when they bring a bit of devilment and adventure and aggression to their play. They tore Derry asunder that afternoon.

But we know too well about the other Armagh, the one we saw in the first half against Galway in Markievicz Park. The one that sat deep and sat off their opponents for the opening 35 minutes, despite enjoying the benefit of a stiff enough breeze. They allowed Galway to stitch together long passing moves and throw the ball around to their heart’s content. It was baffling.

Kieran McGeeney obviously decided the 15-minutes allotted period for half-time wasn’t enough and was happy to rack up fines as the paint probably came off the wall in the dressing room in Sligo. They showed their better selves after the restart although were still blessed to get out of it.

Their fans will see it as a favourable draw, though they thought the same last year. A first semi-final appearance since 2005 is the carrot before them. It’ll be unforgivable if they pass up this opportunity.

It was their cagey and cautious mentality that cost themselves last year against Monaghan, even if it took penalties to separate the teams. If it’s more of the same at the weekend, it will keep Roscommon in the game and it could be a long afternoon for their supporters. And they know well that sinking feeling.

But if Armagh bring their Celtic Park form on Saturday, I’d predict a win, to the tune of five points or more.

Our other neighbours to the south must surely be cursing their luck, on several fronts. Both genders drew Dublin out of the hat last weekend.

It’s clearly the worst draw they have gotten. Between the injuries and the seven-day turnaround, it’s hard to see them pulling off an upset.

They’ll have been cheered to see Damien Comer return much quicker than expected – even if his arrival was taken as evidence things weren’t going to plan on the pitch – but on the flip side, Shane Walsh hobbled off early on. The question of his availability for Saturday is still uncertain.

Sean Kelly has a few games under his belt though still doesn’t look to be moving as freely as in previous years. He still seems to be inhibited compared to his form in 2022 and for most of 2023. Cillian McDaid did show signs of his old self in the second half last weekend.

Their preliminary quarter-final draw was probably the softest available, though Monaghan are spirited and, at least, died with their boots on. They just weren’t very good and Galway, after an unbelievably sluggish first half, did shake them off in the end.

So patient and methodical is their style of play that playing into the wind seems to be an advantage at this point, at least judging on their last two outings.

Even aside from their injury concerns, this could be a problem coming up against Dublin in Croke Park.

I’m not convinced the safety-first, plodding gameplan works against the Dubs. They’re not made uncomfortable by it and in possession, they’re so practiced and adept when it comes to picking apart defensive systems.

Last year, three of the four teams who avoided the preliminary quarter-finals won their last-eight game comfortably. Monaghan’s shootout win over Armagh was the odd game out.

I’d expect all four of the rested sides to get the job done this week. Louth will relish their first quarter-final appearance and Ger Brennan will infuse them with belief but it’s hard to see them catching out Jim McGuinness.

Kerry and Derry couldn’t have taken more different paths to this stage.

Conor McCluskey had a great quote last week that they had “taken the scenic route except the views weren’t great and it made you sick along the way”.

There wasn’t much scenery along Kerry’s route, aside from the literal views around Killarney. Their round robin group was even easier than it looked at the start. Their spread of scorers has been impressive although the Cliffords are yet to start motoring.

Mickey Harte has a famous record against Kerry but you’re going back to the noughties for that. How much have Derry left in the tank? They’re the cat with nine lives but they must have used up eight of them at this stage. Kerry to progress to the semis.

Lastly, a word for the great Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh. The tributes over the past couple of days speak for themselves. I knew his son Eamonn, who worked as a physio with the International Rules, a lovely fella who furnished with plenty of stories about his father, whenever we asked.

Micheál had retired as a commentator by the time my career was underway but I met him a couple of times, once in Croke Park and once when he came into a Mayo team meeting at one stage. His aura was such that there was a wow factor whenever he came into the room. It was sad to see him passing but he’ll live on forever in GAA folklore.

Watch the All-Ireland Football Championship quarter-finals, Donegal v Louth (1.15pm) and Kerry v Derry (3.15pm), on Sunday from 12.45pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1