By John Harrington

Cathal Cregg admits he feared for one moment that Roscommon might suffer a disastrous defeat away to New York in the Preliminary Round of the Connacht SFC.

The Rossies only escaped from Gaelic Park with a slender one-point win, and could easily have been beaten because New York finished the game so strongly. Team veteran Cregg thought that nightmare might come through when the home team created a goal-chance near the end of the match. 

“In the last couple of minutes they got on a bit of a run and they got four points on the trot and Geoffrey Claffey pulled off a great save at the end that went over for a point and if that goal had gone in we would have been under serious pressure,” said Cregg. “Thankfully it didn't go on for another couple of minutes and we got out of there and we are in the quarter final against Leitrim.

“I suppose there was a lot of doom and gloom around the game but ultimately we went out to win the game and we won the game. It probably wasn't the way everyone expected us to win it but we got a win and that's what we went out for.

“We were a good bit up for long periods of the game, we were five or six points up once Ciaran Murtagh got the goal. And we were six points up in the 61st or 62 minute and missed a lot of goal chances. Ultimately we didn't score we missed five one on one goal chances and at any level you can't do that and expect to win a game. New York had some very good players and they got a purple patch at the end of the game we were lucky to come out of it.”

Roscommon were expected to win the match easily after an impressive Allianz FL Division 1 campaign that saw them reach the semi-finals. But Cregg was not surprised that New York put up such a fight because he knows from past experience that they can be a tough nut to crack.

“It was my third trip over," he said. "I went the first year, and that was hard enough, And like London last year, it’s a no-win situation, and generally not that easy. Like Mayo got it hard in London a few years ago, Galway had it hard in New York. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

“To be fair to New York, a lot of people put them down. Go through their team, an awful lot have played at least minor or under-21, and been on inter-county panels. They’re good quality players, and sometimes people can be a small bit disrespectful to them too. As I said, we missed an awful lot of chances, and you can’t be doing that against players of that level.”

Roscommon supporters were buzzing after a League campaign that saw them retain their Division 1 status and score some impressive wins over teams like Kerry, Cork, and Donegal. The hype was rising ahead of the Connacht Championship campaign, so if there was a silver-lining to the team’s scare in New York it is that the burden of expectation is no longer what it was.

“I'd say it's well and truly dampened now,” said Cregg. “Look it, Roscommon supporters are great. Even after the game in New York there wouldn't be a whole pile of negativity around it. We've been very fortunate over the last couple of years with the great support we've gotten. I'm sure in two weeks time down in Leitrim the support will be great again. But we need to start putting some performances together to give them something to shout about. Because the last couple of games have been disappointing for us.”

*** Cathal Cregg was speaking at the launch of the 'Replay Project' in Croke Park which showcased the results of three years of research aimed at capturing and storing European traditional sports techniques for present and future players. The project involves cutting edge sensor technology and data analytics combined to create, for the first time, a digitised ‘library of movement’ for use by athletes and coaches.**