Cummins and Roscommon targeting landmark win

By Paul Keane

You're either winning or you're learning, and when Roscommon came up well short at the start of May in the TG4 Connacht intermediate football final, there was a whole pile of learning for them.

Truth be told, nobody in the Roscommon camp was talking about All-Ireland assaults, or possibly gaining promotion to the senior ranks, at that stage.

Leitrim, fresh from promotion from Division 4 of the Lidl National League, didn't just beat Division 3 Roscommon in that provincial final, they played them off the park, winning by 4-18 to 0-8.

Almost three months to the day, and having gained revenge against Leitrim at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage, and taken out 2021 champions Westmeath in the last four, Helena Cummins will lead Roscommon out for a Croke Park final that very few predicted would materialise.

"Jeez, we've been underdogs going into a lot of the games now at this stage," said goalkeeper Cummins.

Which has made it all the sweeter, of course.

"Look, it was very low," said Cummins of the mood after the provincial final. "The changing room wasn't a nice place to be in. A lot of disappointment, you know? It was a difficult place to be when we knew in ourselves that that performance is not what we're about.

"But I suppose sometimes you probably do need days like that to make you kind of realise, and to build up that bit of resilience. And I think the resilience within the group now is next to none and I do think days like that have built character within the team and I think that's something that's pushed us on as well."

There was more hurt immediately after the Connacht final loss, as Roscommon lost their TG4 All-Ireland series group opener to Cavan. But it was a much improved performance against a side that contested the Division 2 League final.

"We lost the Cavan game by four points, if we had that bit more belief in ourselves, we could have got over the line," said Cummins. "It was there for the taking. But we regrouped after that and then we met Down in the second round of the Championship and we beat them, and by beating them it knocked Cavan out of the Championship."

Then came the rematch with Leitrim, an All-Ireland quarter-final tie they weren't going to lack motivation for. In the end, Roscommon's four-point win amounted to a 26-point swing in scoring terms, compared to the provincial final outcome.

"It was very sweet," acknowledged Cummins, who has given over 10 years of inter-county service. "It was great because there were a lot of questions asked of us, not only by ourselves but kind of outside the camp as well, and a lot of people doubting our ability and things like that. To go out and prove that we're well capable, and to show what Roscommon ladies football is really about, it was very sweet, yeah."

Roscommon didn't stop there, of course, producing more drama when they reeled off 1-1 late on in the semi-final to overcome a talented Westmeath team.

"We kept our heads and got the goal from Lauren Shanagher and then a point from Aisling Feely, that helped us get over the line," said Cummins.

It's Fermanagh now in the final and, for once, the tipsters have installed the Rossies as favourites.

Cummins knows better than to take anything for granted after the campaign they've just put down but she is enthused and positive when she looks around the changing room.

There is Laura Mannion, for example, flying it in the forwards just seven months after giving birth.

Now that's commitment.

"That's commitment for sure," agreed Michael Glaveys stalwart Cummins. "She had the baby in December, was just in time for Christmas with him and she was back playing club football in February. Then she came back in to us after the Cavan game."

Roscommon last won the intermediate title in 2005.

"That was played in St Loman's in Mullingar," noted Cummins.

Croke Park experience is thin on the ground then with a Roscommon ladies team last featuring at the venue in 2001, when they won the junior title.

This is an area that Fermanagh will hope to capitalise on as they have contested five of the last nine All-Ireland junior finals, beating Louth at Croke Park in 2024 and taking on Antrim at GAA HQ also in 2022.

Like Roscommon, who are unchanged for the final, Fermanagh endured provincial difficulties and didn't actually qualify for the Ulster final.

But the two counties have timed their runs to perfection, peaking at the business end of the year.

"They've obviously experienced the occasion before," said Cummins of Fermanagh. "Whereas this is all new territory to us. One lady on our team, Rachel Fitzmaurice, she would have been in an All-Ireland final for camogie, but for everyone else it's new territory."