The end of another road for Roscommon
Another championship season ends miserably for Roscommon . When Diarmuid Murtagh kicked a two-pointer a couple of minutes after the restart in Clones on Saturday, they had the wind behind them and a Monaghan side whose radar was all over the place in front of them. And yet, with their summer on the line, they only kicked five more points the rest of the way. Out with a whimper.
It has become a drearily familiar scene with the Rossies. Early-summer success frittered away once the temperature increases in the All-Ireland series. They’ve won four Connacht titles since 2010 – each time, they’ve exited the championship at the earliest possible stage of the competition thereafter.
Roscommon almost never knock anyone out of the championship these days. They finished above Cavan in the group stage two years ago and beat Tyrone the following weekend – but those two wins in eight days in June 2024 represent 50 per cent of their knock-out wins over the past decade. They finished above Sligo in the group stage in 2023 and beat Armagh in a qualifier in 2018. And that’s it.
Darragh Heneghan and Senan Lambe dejected after Roscommon's defeat to Monaghan on Saturday, ending their 2026 campaign. Photograph: Tom O’Hanlon/Inpho
This year was only the third time since 1980 that Roscommon beat both Galway and Mayo to win a Connacht title. And yet the two counties west of the Shannon are still in the championship while the Rossies are licking their wounds. And worst of all, nobody is surprised.
“On their day, they could take out a top-eight team,” the great Willie Hegarty, long-suffering Roscommon commentator for Shannonside Radio told The Irish Times earlier this year. “But doing it two days in a row? Consistently, they have not proven they can do that.”
In fact, they look to have proven that they can’t. Changing that scenario is Job One for Mark Dowd next year. – Malachy Clerkin
Is the age of champions over?
It was inevitable that when the GAA decided to evolve a more extensive All-Ireland football championship , the status of provincial champions would be affected simply because they would no longer be the only competing counties, as had been the case for 113 years up to 2001.
So it proved for the first 10 years when Sam Maguire went to an already defeated county on six occasions. Yet, for the next 13 years the All-Ireland winners were all provincial champions and unbeaten for the championship.
The past two years have reverted to counties, Armagh and Kerry , both of whom had lost matches along the way – even if in Armagh’s case it was on penalties in the 2024 Ulster final.
The introduction of a tiered 16-county round-robin system facilitated teams not winning all of their fixtures before the knockout stages. Of its three years in operation, all eventual champions dropped points along the way; Dublin were held to a draw in 2023.
Louth's Conall McCaul celebrates after Louth's win on Sunday, ending Armagh's unbeaten run in the championship this season. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho
This year’s new system also allows teams to lose along the way – three times in extremis, although you won’t be winning anything in those circumstances. The format for the first time also gave no material benefit to a county winning their provincial championship.
Back in 2010, there was a wipeout of provincial champions at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage. Everyone got beaten, including seismic shocks like Dublin eliminating Tyrone and Down maintaining their historical hold on champions Kerry.
In a week’s time, there may be just one provincial champion in the draw for the All-Ireland quarter-finals, two at most.
Questions arose at the weekend (allowing that two or three years is not a significant sample size) over two issues. One: Are the provincial championships now entirely unmoored from the All-Ireland in terms of either prestige or the advantage they offer? Two: How likely is it in the future that a county can navigate an intense, quasi-knockout format and win Sam Maguire without losing a match along the way?
It won’t happen this summer, anyway, as the last 100-per-cent record, Armagh’s, fell on Sunday. – Seán Moran
‘Neller or Nowhere’
The ‘Neller or Nowhere’ campaign has a very short window to make a mark, but Dublin officials must now decide whether or not to back the wishes of Ger Brennan or opt to play Donegal at Croke Park after the counties where drawn against each other in Monday morning’s draw .
Speaking after Dublin’s win over Cavan on Sunday, Brennan indicated he would prefer for his side to Parnell Park rather than Croke Park if they received a home draw in Round 3.
“If we are to get a home draw, I know our senior hurlers have a big game away to Clare on Saturday night, I’d love to go and play – if it was a home draw for Dublin, it would probably be on a Sunday – in Parnell Park and get out of Croke Park.”
Cavan manager Dermot McCabe and Dublin manager Ger Brennan after Sunday's Round 2B game…
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