All-Ireland SFC Super 8s (Round 3)
Cork v Roscommon on Sunday at Pairc Ui Rinn at 4 pm
On a national scale it’s a game that means nothing and there will be minimal media coverage, however the Roscommon camp have decided that they would like to end their season on a positive note and they will be travelling south aiming to win their final Super 8s game.
It would have been very understandable for Roscommon to have thrown in the towel after the Dublin match and just fulfilled the fixture but the players and management have decided to take this game seriously which is to their credit.
Roscommon manager Anthony Cunningham told People Sport on Tuesday that the players have adopted a very positive attitude in the run-up to the game.
“We trained as usual last week and last weekend. A few lads went back and played club matches but there was a very good buzz at training and the team want to finish the year on a high.
“I know that Dublin are a very good side but there were passages of play against them in the first half that we would not have been happy with and hopefully we will learn from that going forward.
“We will be going with the group of players we have had all along but there are a couple of lads that have been very close to starting or getting game time and we will be looking at those lads on Sunday too. There will be one or two changes but not too many. Tadgh O’Rourke is recovered from injury so he will be available for Sunday as well.
“This should be a good match. Cork are certainly the most improved team this summer and they have done some excellent work under Ronan McCarthy and remember that Cork have won more U-20 and U-21 titles in the past ten years than Kerry have so they have plenty of good footballers.
“We are looking forward to the challenge and we want to finish the year on a high. It will be a difficult game against a very good team but we are ready,” he concluded.
It is a pity that there is nothing to play for except pride in this final game as the two sides look well matched. Cork have very poor support for their county football team and it will be interesting to see what the attendance is. There are a number of Roscommon people travelling south but it will be far less than the numbers we have seen all summer.
It’s refreshing that Roscommon are travelling looking for the win and if Cork adopt the same attitude then it could be a cracking game. However, players are human and in the backs of their minds the result will not matter at the end of the day. I’ll sit on the fence.
Prediction: Draw
