Eirgrid Connacht U-20 FC Quarter-Final:
Roscommon v Sligo at Dr Hyde Park on Wednesday (April 5th) at 7 pm
Roscommon’s U-20 footballers have been handed a tough draw in the Connacht championship as they face the holders Sligo in Dr Hyde Park next Wednesday evening at 7 pm.
Over the years a home draw against the Yeats County would be viewed as a great opportunity for Roscommon to advance. However, Sligo are the reigning minor and U-20 champions while Summerhill and St Attracta’s, Tubbercurry are the Connacht Colleges ‘A’ and ‘B champions for 2023. So underage football is very strong in Sligo at the moment.
Roscommon manager Noel Dunning has also told the Roscommon People that preparations for the match have not been ideal.
“We have had a very disrupted build up to be honest. We have a lot of injuries and the bad weather has presented a lot of problems with regard to the availability of pitches,” he said.
“A lot of our potential starters are injured or doubtful for the game including Colm Neary, Shane McGinley, Ethan O’Reilly, Conor Hand and Caelim Keogh to name just a few, and that’s a major worry”.
Noel says Sligo will provide very dangerous opposition: “Sligo are a very strong team. They are well coached and well organised and we will be up against it. They will not fear coming to Dr Hyde Park either.
“Our chances rely on us coming up with a good performance on the night. We will need all our players performing at their very best to win it, and remember there is no back door or second chances so it’s all (decided) on the night,” he concluded.
There is no doubt that this will be a very difficult assignment for Roscommon but at Dr Hyde Park they will be hoping to win and qualify for a semi-final meeting with Mayo the following Wednesday in the Hyde once again.
Prediction: Roscommon.
*We will have an exclusive report on the Roscommon v Sligo match in next week’s edition of the Roscommon People.
