O’Halloran: ‘Castlebar draw not the end of the world’
Roscommon’s hurlers will be confident that they can maintain their unbeaten start to the Allianz National Football League Division 3A campaign when they entertain Louth at Dr. Hyde Park on Sunday (2 pm).
Having been six points up by the end of the third quarter against Mayo in Castlebar last weekend, Francis O’Halloran and his men will have been disappointed to have allowed Mayo back into the game which ended in a draw at 0-17 each.
Roscommon are without a number of well-established players at the moment like Daniel Glynn, Cathal Dolan, Padraig Kelly and Peter Kellehan and it means that several new players are getting their chance to stake a claim for permanent starting positions on the team.
Louth were defeated by Armagh (3-18 to 2-12) last weekend and over the years Roscommon have enjoyed a good record against the Wee County in league and championship and will be expecting to win at home on Sunday.
Roscommon manager Francis O’Halloran told the Roscommon People on Tuesday that the younger players who have come into the panel are doing well.
“The lads we have are mad to play for the jersey and that’s what we want. Lads like James Dillon, Darragh Finn, Padraig Brennan and Jack Dowling are new to all this and they are doing great,” he said.
“It’s a pity that we are without a number of experienced players but we just have to get on with it. Lads are not able to commit for one reason or another and that’s life.
“We could have won against Mayo and we were not happy with the draw as a group but it’s not the end of the world. We will be concentrating on our home matches and we will be hoping to win those starting with Louth on Sunday,” he concluded.
The Roscommon team who lined out against Mayo last Sunday was: Enda Lawless; Thomas Fleming, James Dillon, Eamon Mulry; Joe Brennan, Conor Cosgrove, Padraig Brennan; Darragh Finn (0-1), Jack
Dowling (0-1); Adam Donnelly, Conor Mulry (0-1), Eoin Fitzgerald (0-3); Mickey Joe Egan (0-8, 6 frees), Brendan Mulry (0-1), Michael Brennan (0-1). Subs used Eamon Flanagan and Gearoid Egan.
