Roscommon’s league win over Galway ‘massive for confidence but not important in the slightest’ in Connacht SFC final – Anthony Cunningham

Roscommon’s back-to-back league wins against Galway have been ‘massive for confidence’ – but they won’t matter if their final battle against Connacht SFC resumes, insists Anthony Cunningham.

he Rossies boss saw his team lose twice to Galway during the Covid-shortened 2021 season but they regained the upper hand this spring when they toppled the Tribesmen twice in one week. The first win came against an exhausted and already promoted Galway in the final round of the regular Allianz League, and was followed by a thrilling victory in the Division 2 Finals.

That raised the stakes for the latest renewal of that fearsome rivalry at Pearse Stadium on Sunday.

“It’s huge for confidence, that would be the only thing that would be real and a big deal,” Cunningham surmised when asked about those two recent duels.

“No disrespect to the league but you look there even last weekend and whether it’s in football or hurling or whatever, league form really goes out the window if you don’t have your championship right.

“Your mental state has to be right and for us you use the league to get better and build your confidence…but the performances against Galway don’t really matter, they don’t add points to the board next day.”

Since then, Galway have of course picked up one of the championship’s first major scalps by toppling Mayo at Castlebar. And at Roscommon’s last press night at Connacht in Athlone, their manager warned: “I thought they were excellent against Mayo.

“Everyone said they conceded late goals but I thought they were really competent straight away and scored some good goals, controlled the game and played it on their terms. So they will be really inspired by this achievement.”

Cunningham reported virtually immaculate health ahead of the Salthill showdown as full-back Richard Hughes had shaken off a back injury that forced him to miss the league playoff and provincial semi-final against Sligo.

“We’re more or less fine. There will always be little things, but there is no one outside. Richard Hughes is back in the running,” he said.

“Everything was the same as always, only the training was gone. It was also good to get a break and I think we’re one of the luckier teams to have had a three or four week lead.

“A lot of teams played from Sunday to Sunday, so you always need a week to recover from injuries, no matter what game you play in the league.”