Oran hope to upset odds against Four Roads again

By John Harrington

Oran go into Sunday’s Kepak Roscommon SHC Final as significant underdogs against a Four Roads team hunting a three-in-a-row, but that’s not something that will unnerve them.

The last time they reached a county final back in 2016 it was a nine-in-a-row chasing Four Roads team who stood in their way and they were even less fancied than they are this time around.

When Four Roads recovered from a seven-point half-time deficit to draw that county final nine years ago the common perception was that Oran had blown a glorious opportunity to pull of an almighty shock.

Not so. Instead, that 2016 final replay is remembered as arguably the most memorable win in the club’s history for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, for the manner in which Oran forced the game into extra-time with the last puck of the game in normal time.

Hugh Rooney was fouled coming out of defence with the ball which gave Oran a free inside their own 45 yard line.

They were playing into the teeth of a strong wind so it looked like an unlikely scoring opportunity, but maybe not when you have a man like Jerry Fallon in your ranks.

The 2009 M Donnelly All-Ireland Poc Fada champion struck the sliotar as sweetly as he ever has to drive it over the bar and bring the game into extra-time.

Described as ‘The Score of the Century’ by Shannonside FM commentator Willie Hegarty, the moment was captured for posterity on his phone camera by local journalist Seamus Duke.

That miraculous equaliser gave Oran a massive shot of adrenalin and they cut loose in extra-time to eventually win the match by six points.

The club's fortunes have receded since that high-water mark in 2016. They’re a very rural parish located around five kilometres outside Roscommon town as you head west towards Castlerea, and the numbers game has always been a challenge.

Their return to a county final for the first time in nine years is in no little part down to making the most of what they have.

Around half of the current team are survivors from that 2016 success, and there was a resolve this year to give it their all before their window of opportunity closes for good.

"We've a small pool of players and they've worked very hard,” says team manager, Francie Quine, who himself was also involved back in 2016 as a selector/trainer.

“They said themselves at the start of the year that they'd put their shoulder to the wheel to get back a few players and get numbers for 2025 because we struggled badly last year for numbers for training.

“We fulfilled all our fixtures but we had a very tight panel altogether last year. We were able to field and we were competitive but we had no bench.

“This year a few players came back and we got a few hyoung lads in and have had good numbers for training.

“We have a few lads sitting at the 30 mark and at the end of last year they probably realised that we weren't coming together as a unit the way we should and were just getting pipped by a couple of points in games.

“They felt themselves that if we could put a bigger effort in that instead of losing those games by a point or two that they could be winning them by a point or two.

“The feeling was that Four Roads were a step ahead of everyone else but that we could be competitive with all the other teams, the likes of Athleague, St. Dominic's, Tremane, Pearses, and Roscommon Gaels.

“Last year we came on the wrong side of three games by narrow margins. We lost by a point or two against Athleague and a point or two against Tremane and a point or two against Roscommon Gaels.

“We just weren't together the way you need to be as a team and they are the fine margins. The lads realised last year when the year was over we just missed the boat slightly in three matches and if everyone pulled together we might just get over the line in those games and that's the difference this year. The bit of work has been done on the field.”

This year they’ve come out on the right side of those fine margins, such as in the county semi-final against last year’s beaten finalists St. Dominic’s when late points from Paddy Fallon and Cathal Kenny edged them to victory.

The bar they’ll need to reach in this final is likely to be considerably higher, though.

Four Roads struggled to find their stride earlier in the campaign when huffing and puffing their way to wins over Roscommon Gaels and St. Dominic’s, but were much more fluent in their semi-final victory over Pearses so could have timed their run nicely.

When Four Roads and Oran crossed swords in the group phase it was Four Roads who won by 2-14 to 0-14, but both teams were already through to the semi-finals by then so it was a phony war that might not serve as an accurate barometer of what to expect on Sunday.

Oran will know though that if they’re to pull off an upset they can’t be outscored for goals again as they were in that game.

“Without a doubt,” says Quine. “Four Roads have lively forwards and very talented hurlers, there's no doubt about it. They're young and very fit and if we could curtail those goals and not see those green flags you wouldn't know, we could be close.

"It is a mammoth task ahead of us on Sunday but we will be working fierce hard to be close to Four Roads. We'll make it hard for them to win it.

“We're in bonus territory but when you get there you like to be competitive and put your best foot forward.”

Tradition favours Four Roads – they’ve won 36 county titles compared to Oran’s six – but history tells us the underdogs have happy habit of bearing their teeth as far as this match up goes.

The sides have met in seven previous finals with Oran winning four of them.

They still have Jerry Fallon in their ranks too. He’s reinvented himself as a goalkeeper, but he’s still a good man for a long-range free. What odds he has another ‘Point of the Century’ in his locker?

“It would be an unreal feeling if we could win it,” says Quine. “I’ll always remember the first county final I won playing in 1998, the feeling was just unbelievable.

“It would mean a lot to the players, a lot to the club, and a lot to the parish.

“We know it’s a huge challenge, Four Roads have always set the standard since my own days playing.

“I started playing senior hurling in 1994/95 and Four Roads were always setting the bar high nearly 90 per cent of the time.

“Ourselves, Athleague, and Pearses won the odd final here and there in between, but Four Roads generally set the standard and it's no different this year but we'll give it as good a shot as we can and see how close we can get to that bar on Sunday."

Sunday, September 28

Kepak Roscommon SHC Final

Four Roads v Oran, King & Moffatt Dr. Hyde Park, 2pm.