Rosstafarians on tour

Rossies traveled far and wide to be in the Bronx on May 1 to see the Roscommon Senior team take on their New York counterparts. There was some trepidation entering the game. The Sheepstealers had played very poorly the previous Sunday in losing to Longford. Would the long trip and short time to prepare handcuff the Rossies? Gaelic Park has Astroturf, an alien surface to the visitors. And maybe even more significant: NY were supposed to be even better than last year when they gave Galway a huge scare. More lads had emigrated from Ireland and were turning out for NY.

Kevin and I made the trip from Dallas on Friday night and on Saturday hit St. John's, Yorktown Heights, Carmel and even Southbury. On Sunday we pulled on our new Primrose & Blue jerseys (thanks Aunt Sheila) and despite leaving in plenty of time, missed the throw-in, such was the lack of parking by Manhattan College.
We need not have rushed or worried. The bould Rossies dominated a one-sided affair and were in control from the get-go. While NY seemed bigger and certainly won the majority of the kickouts, Roscommon were quick to win back possession and when they did, moved the ball decisively down the field and were generally accurate in their shooting.

The weather was darn near perfect and there were several thousand Rosstafarians in attendance. Gaelic Park is a unique place to see a game. The seating is all on one side and the opposite side is a yard for the NYC Subway trains. Kind of surreal to see Donie Shine hoisting points on a plastic pitch with silver trains in the background. We need not have worried about the Astroturf. Final score Roscommon 3-21, New York 1-11.

Twelve scorers for Roscommon: D Shine 0-06 (free, 45), K Higgins 1-01, S Kilbride 1-03 (0-01 free), C Cregg 1-01, C Devanney 0-03, I Kilbride, M Finneran, E Kenny, D Ward, P Domican, K Mannion, S O'Neill 0-01 each. How often does the fullback get to score?!!

Next up, either Leitrim or Sligo.