Home advantage can help steer Roscommon to back-to-back titles in Connacht

Connacht SFC Final

Roscommon v Galway
Dr Hyde Park, 4pm Sunday

There is no doubting Galway have come a long way in the last 12 months but the progress they have made does not justify the long odds-on quotes about them claiming the Connacht title.

They have a nine-point defeat to turn around with Roscommon from last year's provincial final and that 2-15 to 0-12 success was in Galway's Pearse Stadium.

This time the Rossies have home advantage at Dr Hyde Park and they had to fight hard to ensure the game would be played there. They are men on a mission.

Roscommon's Conor Devaney is shackled by Cork's defenceCredit: Inpho

Right now, the best piece of recent championship form from either side is Roscommon's draw with Mayo in the All-Ireland quarter-final last year. That was a game they should have won.

Galway beat Mayo in Connacht but they bowed out of the championship with a whimper against Kerry. Since then, they have progressed unbeaten through the group stages of Division 1 in the league and held their own for long periods of the decider against Dublin before losing 0-18 to 0-14.

This is a Galway team going places, but the skimpy odds being offered for Sunday's provincial decider make no sense.

They made hard work of dismantling Mayo in the Connacht quarter-final despite playing with an extra man for most of the game following Diarmuid O'Connor's moment of madness, and a last-gasp goal made the scoreline look more comfortable then it was.

What they did to Sligo was merciless but the Yeats County were naive in their approach. Don't expect Roscommon to fall into a similar trap.

Galway are good, but they are beatable and Roscommon represent value in several markets.

Roscommon are Division 2 champions and will be plying their trade at the top table next spring. They finished their campaign with home wins over Cavan (0-15 to 0-13) and Cork (0-17 to 1-11) at Dr Hyde Park and went on to win the final (4-16 to 4-12 over Cavan).

Roscommon were able to exploit Galway's fragile full-back line in last year's Connacht final, scoring 1-6 inside the opening quarter.

Galway have become more defensive since that loss so don't expect the Rossies attack to be afforded such luxuries this time around but in Ciaran and Diarmuid Murtagh, Enda and Donie Smith, Conor Devaney and Niall Kilroy, Kevin McStay has six quality forwards who can score.

If Peter Domican can restrict Damien Comer to a couple of points and stop him getting goals, the foundations for a Roscommon victory will be built.

Some say that Galway are the biggest dangers to Dublin in the All-Ireland title race but they need to prove it. Until they do, it makes sense to Roscommon to win by two points or more.

Recommendations
Roscommon -1
2pts 4-1 Betfair, BoyleSports, Paddy Power
Roscommon to win by four, five or six points
1pt 11-1 BoyleSports

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