National Football League Division One: Roscommon v Monaghan (tomorrow, Kiltoom, 2pm, deferred coverge on TG4)
IF ROSCOMMON are to survive their upcoming Division One campaign, it will most likely be at the expense of Monaghan – if the bookmakers’ odds are to be believed.
Kiltoom will bring together the second and third favourites for the drop, ensuring that there may be more than just two points at stake tomorrow afternoon.
The fact that Malachy O’Rourke’s side are ear-marked for a relegation scrap despite finishing third last year, and getting within a point of Dublin in the semi-final, may raise some eyebrows, but Allstar defender Colin Walshe can understand the rationale.
“I hadn’t even seen that we were third favourites to go down,” said the Doohamlet man.
“That’s fair enough. There’s probably a perception in the media of where we stand in the rankings.
“If you’re third favourites to go down then you’re ranked as the sixth top team in the country though.
“We let ourselves down at the tail-end of last year in the All-Ireland quarter-final against Tyrone, and until you can win the big games you’ll not be counted amongst the top teams.”
Just five players survive from Monaghan’s round three McKenna Cup draw with Cavan with the likes of Conor McManus, Darren Hughes and Rory Beggan joining Walshe in coming back into the starting 15.
It’s understandable why O’Rourke is fielding close to his strongest side right from the off, because the ingredients are there for a spirited home performance.
Limited tickets are available for the game in Kiltoom while morale is high following the appointment of Kevin McStay and Fergal O’Donnell, who guided the county to an All-Ireland minor title in 2006, as joint managers.
They have struggled against Ulster opposition already this year though with Armagh proving much the better side when the teams met in a recent challenge match.
Despite that, Walshe knows that they are going to be exposed to a suffocating atmosphere.
“Roscommon are coming up and, like ourselves, they'll have high ambitions,” he said. “They'll be looking forward to their first game back in Division One in front of a home crowd and that should show.
“We were there last year and hopefully we'll be able to use that experience to our advantage.
“We had a few good wins away from home and we're looking for another.”
The match will have extra significance for Walshe as it will be his first League game since the Division Two final win over Donegal in April 2014.
A cruciate injury picked up later that year against Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter-final meant that he missed all of last season’s National League – so this will be his first taste of top flight action since his debut season in 2010.
“The club season only finished up at tail-end of November, start of December,” he said. “I took a few weeks off away from the field after that.
“I came back for the start of McKenna Cup. I was feeling fit and feeling fresh so that was always the plan.
“I'm looking forward to the new year and getting as much football as possible.”
The defender will be hoping that it’s a winning start, and there’s plenty of reason to suggest it is a possibility.
Darren Hughes’s return, despite only coming back from honeymoon last week, is a great boost although his brother Kieran is not named in the squad. The younger of the pair had to come off in Ulster University’s McKenna Cup victory over Armagh after picking up an ankle injury.
Paul Finlay is also not included in the squad and he is not expected to return until later in the year.
Shane Carey, meanwhile, may just have made a late bid to enter O’Rourke’s thoughts for the match after he hit 3-6, 3-3 from play, for DCU as they eased past Athlone IT in the Sigerson Cup on Wednesday.
With Vinny Corey, Stephen Gollogly, Conor McCarthy and impressive newcomer Barry McGinn also among the substitutes, the Farney management will have plenty of options should they need them.
That could end up being the decisive factor in what is already a vital game.
Monaghan: R Beggan; C Walshe, D Wylie, R Wylie; D Mone, F Kelly, K O’Connell; N McAdam, D Hughes; K Duffy, D Malone, O Duffy; R McAnespie, T Kerr, C McManus`
Roscommon: D O’Malley;S McDermott, N Collins, N McInerney; D Murray, N Daly, R Stack; C Shine, I Kilbride; F Cregg, E Smith, C Murtagh; D Murtagh, S Kilbride, C Cregg
