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Preview: SFC Qualifiers Round 4A

Enda Smith

Enda Smith

All-Ireland SFC Qualifiers Round 4A

Clare v Roscommon, Pearse Stadium, Salthill, 3pm (SKY)

The list of teams that win an All-Ireland Qualifier just six days after losing a provincial championship match isn’t a long one.

It’s a serious physical and psychological challenge, and all the more so you would suspect for Roscommon on Saturday because of their particular circumstances.

This isn’t just their second match in six days for the Rossies, it’s their third in thirteen. Also the manner in which they were heavily beaten in the Connacht Final last weekend by Galway could have left some mental scars that won’t have healed just yet.

There’s resilience in youth though, and the age profile of this Roscommon team means they might be both physically and mentally better able to bounce back than most teams. Key forward Enda Smith certainly sounded bullish about how they intend to go about their business against Clare today.

“We are just going to go out and give it our best shot,” he said. “I know provincial losers don’t have a great record, but we are going to try and turn that around and get back on the horse.

“We just have to assess the game against Galway and move on. Everyone needs to get back doing what we are good at and that’s playing football.

“We are an expansive sort of team that like to play attacking football. We didn’t show it against Galway but hopefully if we can get to Croke Park we can show off our talent and skills that we normally have.”

We know from some of their League performances in Division One this year that Roscommon have a lot of quality in their ranks, particularly in attack. If they play to their full potential then they should have too much for Clare, but they were a long way off doing that in the drawn and replayed Connacht Finals.

It’s as if in their desire to be more compact defensively, they’ve lost the fluency attacking with the ball that was the hallmark of their best performances in the League.

For lots of different reasons so the geography of this match is perfect for a Clare ambush. Not only has Roscommon’s preparation been less than ideal, the Banner County bring serious momentum into the contest after their Qualifier victories over Laois and Clare.

“It’s a nice situation to be in,” admitted Clare forward Eoin Cleary this week. After last year, we felt Clare football was at rock bottom after the success of 2014, when we achieved promotion and had a decent championship campaign.

“Laois was a massive game for us. We had previously talked about not closing out tight games in the championship, we hadn’t won one but the Laois win gave us the confidence to push on and we had a decent performance the last day against Sligo.

“Winning games like that against that type of opposition gives you confidence and the confidence in the camp is sky high. We’re playing football nearly into August.”

The confidence could give Clare an edge unless those young Roscommon players have the resilience to let the shackles off and paly like they can despite a couple of tough weeks.

Brian Fox bagged a goal against Cork.

Brian Fox bagged a goal against Cork.

Derry v Tipperary, Breffni Park, Cavan, 5pm (SKY)

When John Evans was Tipperary manager he put forward the theory that the Premier County had a better chance than most of joining the elite tier of Gaelic Football teams because of their natural self-confidence.

He put this mentality down to the fact that the county’s track record of success on the hurling field imbued the county’s footballers with a native self-belief.

Whether Evans’ theory holds any water or not, it’s certainly true that the current Tipperary senior football team plays with a very positive attitude. They back themselves to attack the opposition regardless of their standing in the game, as evidenced by the goal they scored in the very first minute of the Munster Final against Kerry.

So even though they’ll go into Saturday’s fourth round qualifier against Derry as underdogs, don’t expect them to go to Kingspan Breffni Park with any sort of inferiority complex. They’ll be taking the match to the Ulster side from the throw-in, and according to half-forward Brian Fox can’t wait to cut holes in the Derry blanket-defence.

"Watching a blanket defence and games like the Ulster Final can be grim enough but when you're in the game you don't see it like that. You see it as a challenge, 'How can I break this down?' And you relish that challenge," said Fox this week.

"At the end of the day it's a game of football you want to win so I've to think on my feet, work out in my head, 'How am I going to beat this? Can we go through the middle? Can we kick it over? Can we get players free on one side and kick from distance?'

"You've got options you can take and you have to see what will work best for you. It is very hard to enjoy any football game and I'm not having a go at any other counties but the drawn Galway and Roscommon game was so bad to watch. Both teams were actually afraid to go up to the defensive line.

"The Ulster final was the same, they were so afraid of losing the ball. The Donegal boys were thinking, 'Well if we lose the ball inside their 45 they're going to break at pace and we have too many players up the pitch so let's just shoot from outside'. And that's why it makes for poor viewing."

The challenge for Tipperary won’t be just to find a way past the Derry defence, they’ll have to also curb an Oak Leaf attack that scored some good totals in the three qualifier wins that got them here.

They averaged 19 points per game in those victories over Louth, Meath, and Cavan, and if they hit the same total here the chances are they’ll come out on top.

Mark Lynch is on fire at the moment, while forwards like James Kielt and Emmett McGuckin are a handful too. What has been most striking about Derry’s run through the qualifiers is the influence their bench has made, with the likes of Enda Lynn, Niall O’Loughlin, and Niall Toner all capable of coming on and making a big impact in attack too.

The Ulster side have generated a lot of momentum thanks to those three wins and will fancy their chances of making it four here, but they shouldn’t be surprised if Tipperary come flying at them head on.