After win over Sligo, O’Halloran confirms legend Richie to join backroom team
Eight-time All-Ireland winner with Kilkenny, Richie Power, will be joining the Roscommon hurling backroom team ‘within a couple of weeks’ according to manager Francis O’Halloran, who spoke to the Roscommon People after his charges defeated Sligo by 0-31 to 2-18 in a Connacht League game played at the NUIG Air Dome in Bekan on Monday night.
“We are really looking forward to working with Richie Power”, commented O’Halloran. “He will get the videos of the matches and come back and give us an assessment. It’s not just the players that he will be looking at, it’s the whole set-up. It is a great boost for Roscommon hurling that a guy like him is willing to come up and help us out. It will be great for the future to put the right systems in place and that’s what he intends to do” he said.
“We have a few lads with injuries and we will hope to have them back for the league campaign, but we are really looking forward to the year ahead, and the input from Richie Power will be a major development,” he concluded.
With regard to the game itself, from a Roscommon point of view, the performance of young Oran free-taker Paddy Fallon was sensational. He scored 0-20 in all, even having the luxury of missing a penalty in the 50th minute. Roscommon claimed great scores throughout, with the full bench being utilised.
The teams were level at the break (0-15 to 2-9), with the Sligo goals coming from Andrew Kilcullen and Mikey Gordon. Happily for the Rossies, the brilliant free-taking of Fallon kept them in touch and they pulled away in the final quarter.
Apart from Fallon, James Dillon, Padraig Brennan, Brendan Mulry and sub Mickey Joe Egan were best for Roscommon.
Roscommon: Enda Lawless; Thomas Fleming, Mark Ward, James Dillon; Padraig Brennan, Conor Cosgrove, Conor Mulry; Mikey Lohan, Dara Finn (0-1); Eamon Flanagan, Brendan Mulry (0-3), Conor Mulry (0-1); Eoin Fitzgerald, Paddy Fallon (0-20, 15 frees, one ’65), Matthew Comerford. Subs: Mickey Joe Egan (0-4) for Fitzgerald (24), Eamon Mulry for Lohan (42), Joe Brennan for Flanagan (46), Darragh Mullen for Ward (55), Ryan Conlon (0-1) for Comerford (58), Michael Brennan for Finn (65), Gearoid Egan (0-1) for C Mulry (68), Kevin Brennan for Dillon (68), and Cormac Mulry for P Brennan (68).
