THEY ARE THE only team that will contest the Super 8s who did not feature in the top tier of league football in 2018.
And Kevin McStay does not need to be reminded of how significant it is for the prospects of Roscommon football that their team will be pitting themselves against national heavyweights over the next few weeks.
The Roscommon boss watched his team win a brilliant contest on Saturday, prevailing against Armagh in a game that served up 44 scores in Portlaoise.
After promotion from Division 2 was secured in March, this was another signal of progression.
“It’s brilliant, this is what we were talking about these last few months at home. These are the targets that they set themselves. Those boys have ticked every box that they said they would.
“Beyond that, what we have done is given ourselves a real good shot in the arm for the match next weekend. I’m not saying we are going to win any games but we will be competitive and we will learn a lot about the group we have and how they mix it in Division 1 next year.
“I put it up to them all week and I know I did. If that pressurises us then that’s life. It’s a high-level game and we’re into the last eight in the country.”
After they fell short in their efforts to land silverware in Connacht, this was the perfect riposte by Roscommon after that loss to Galway.
“You could hear the noise coming out of the dressing-room,” said McStay.
“It is a different country when you are winning these games. We’ve known the dejection of the Connacht final so today is one of the good days. More important we have the three quarter-finals now to develop this group.
“Today is a coming of age for the group because that was always going to be out up to us by a Kieran McGeeney Armagh team who contributed massively to the contest. We wobbled and it looked like it was gone and we came back great.”
The attacking nature of Roscommon’s play was eye-catching. They racked up 2-22 against Armagh, a sizeable increase from their total of 2-6 in that loss to Galway, with Cathal Cregg, the Smith brothers and the Murtagh brothers all shining in that department.
“There was a lot at stake but the team we have at this stage of its development, we can’t play any other way,” outlined McStay.
“We can’t play an attritional 13 behind the ball. We just can’t play that way. We tried to tighten it up as best we can but we’re not the biggest team.
“We’re probably a footballing team, an athletic team. It’s hard to play against these big men from Armagh and Tyrone and Cork. We live on our wits a bit and that just about got us through this time.”
Tyrone in Croke Park, Donegal in Dr Hyde Park and Dublin in Croke Park represents a schedule of marquee encounters. McStay does not believes teams will be complacent ahead of a meeting with Roscommon.
“I don’t think any team is going to be particularly writing us off. I think they will see us as dangerous opposition even if all the teams will be expecting to beat us. They’ll still be thinking they have to keep an eye on us because they wont want us to cut loose.”
