McDermott: 'I enjoy it, that is why I do it'
Roscommon corner back Seanie McDermott.
By Cian O'Connell
Few are better placed than Seanie McDermott to truly analyse Roscommon's rise to prominence.
McDermott has played in all four Allianz Football League Divisions for Roscommon so he has experienced good and bad times.
Dark days were encountered. "I suppose I have, but when you are playing you just keep playing, but I know what you are saying," McDermott responds when asked about when glamour and trophies were merely a dream.
"You just keep playing football because you love it. You enjoy playing county football, you have a lot of people on about the commitment, but it is a life choice really. I enjoy it, that is why I do it."
So McDermott, the popular corner back, is 'delighted' to be preparing for a Connacht SFC Final against Galway at Pearse Stadium.
"It is great," McDermott admits. "This is my third Connacht Final, it is great. 2010 was my first and only Connacht medal, that day in Castlebar will live long in the memory. "It is great to be back in one. For us as a group of players the main goal was to stay in Division One, that was the big thing.
"Generally the team is quite young and we felt that real progression is made in Division One. The hype around Roscommon was more so that you were playing Division One football, going to Cork, going to Kerry, Mayo coming to Hyde Park, playing Dublin.
"Teams that Roscommon wouldn't have played in a lot of years, that probably brought a bit of hype playing teams we hadn't played in a long time. As a group staying in Division One and getting to a Connacht Final was our goal. We've done that, we've enjoyed it, and we are delighted to be there."
Seanie McDermott won a Connacht SFC title with Roscommon in 2010.
The 32 year old isn't surprised that Galway provide the opposition. "No, I must say, genuinely I am not. We put an awful lot of work into the Sligo game because we felt beating Sligo was the door opener.
"You are definitely in the last 12, if you win a Connacht Final you are in the last eight. If you don't you are one game away from it so we put an awful lot of work into the Sligo game.
"Mayo were hot favourites after the five in a row, but I wasn't really surprised. There wasn't too much talk about Galway, who were very, very unlucky not to get Division One Football for next year.
"Themselves and Cavan had a shootout to see who went up. Galway are Galway, they've very good footballers, they always produce good footballers.
"Their gameplan was very good against Mayo, they worked very hard and were very impressive as a unit. They were very impressive in the middle and in their full back line. So listen it is going to be a big ask for us, no doubt, but we will prepare."
John Evans' contribution to Roscommon football isn't forgotten by McDermott, who is hugely impressed by how Fergal O'Donnell and Kevin McStay have dovetailed.
Seanie McDermott during the Connacht semi final win over Sligo.
"I was disappointed to hear John was going, genuinely,' McDermott said.
"All the lads were very disappointed. Then we heard Kevin and Fergal were getting the job which was brilliant. For me personally it was good because I'm 32, if I was going back playing football it was probably the last management I would be involved with.
"I felt that John had a lot of work done. The big plus is that Kevin and Fergal knew Roscommon football, they knew the club scene, they knew who was there.
"It was nearly like a seamless transition, it probably brought back a couple of players that had gone away for a while.
"They brought it on again. For me if a manager came in from outside after John and it took him two years to get to know Sean McDermott and what he does and to know what Enda Smith does...whereas the lads know us. That was a big, big plus."
