By Cian O'Connell

Enda Smith believes Roscommon's Connacht FBD League triumph leaves them nicely prepared ahead of next Saturday's trip to Elverys MacHale Park.

That interesting Allianz Football League opener against Mayo in Castlebar promises to be lively. Smith, though, is encouraged by Roscommon's wins over Sligo and Galway in January.

"We don’t have as many games at this time of the year as we did in previous years, so to get two games in a row now will leave us good going into the next three weekends, because we have three tough Division One games now, so we are happy enough," Smith says.

A demanding Mayo test looms, but Smith is hopeful that Roscommon can make an impact when they return to the top tier. "Yeah it’s a tough one; we haven’t won there in a while," Smith admits. 

"They have James Horan over them again this year so they are the same as us with new management again, but we will give them a good crack."

Anthony Cunningham has guided Roscommon to a couple of victories thus far and Smith is targeting survival in Division One. "It’s been good," Smith remarks about Cunningham's arrival. "We were back a bit later than most teams, because we only got back maybe at the end of November by the time Anthony was ratified and everything, so we have had less time with him now.

"So far so good, we have been training hard like every team. Anthony has been around the block with different teams, he knows how to prepare for these competitions and a big aim for us is to stay in Division One."