Roscommon captain Enda Smith says spirits are high in the camp and that the players have put the disappointing end to the Allianz League campaign behind them.
“Preparations are going well. We took a couple of weeks off after the league campaign and we have been playing club matches too. The league ended disappointingly but playing the club games was great and we have been training hard with Roscommon too. We had to just park what happened in the league and look forward to the championship and the game against Leitrim”.
Smith says that training has been intense over the last few weeks.
“We trained on Tuesdays and Fridays and we had club matches on the Sunday and the lads are in great shape. I had a slight injury myself but that will be cleared up before the Leitrim game”.
The Boyle man is wary of the challenge posed by a buoyant Leitirm.
“Leitrim will come in with far more confidence this year. The last couple of years they were deflated after doing poorly in the league, but they have been very impressive this year. Terry Hyland had put a great shape on them and they are playing much better football. They will come to Dr. Hyde Park very confident but we have been playing at a high level and if can get our house in order we should be able to win.
“Roscommon never carry the favourites’ tag too well. Our two worst performances in the league were against Cavan and Galway and they were two games that a lot of people were hoping we would do well in. But as a player you get confidence knowing that you have the hard work done and we have put in a lot of hard graft the past four or five weeks. We will be sorting out the tactical end of things now, and once all that work is done we would be confident. We will be working on a gameplan and once all that is done there will be no chance of complacency.
“Leitrim always feel that they can give Roscommon a good game and this is no different. Their good league campaign has given them great confidence but as I said before if we have our house in order we should be able to win”.
