Irrepressible - and crazy for the battle

Interviews with Shane Curran and Chris Conway: Not for the first time this season the Roscommon footballers are looking to Shane Curran for inspiration. He is their goalkeeper and their captain and the man who never loses his strong if slightly frenzied sense of determination. Even in the face of despair brought on by events in Mayo last Sunday week

Curran and his team went to McHale Park with eyes on the Connacht title. Instead they were quickly blinded by Mayo's superior game plan. Roscommon hit just two points in the first half, produced just a single point from play from the front six, and in the end were left stone dead. It seemed like the end of their world, not just their season.

"We haven't sat around feeling sorry for ourselves," says Curran. "We just had to get on with it. And we're still just this game away from an All-Ireland quarter-final. Another 70 minutes."

That's the spirit Curran is taking into Sunday's fourth-round qualifier against Dublin at Croke Park. A Dublin team whose confidence has slowly been restored through the previous three rounds and whose early knockout against Westmeath hasn't yet proved fatal. Two teams then with little left to lose.

"I think physically, anyway, we are fine," adds Curran, who at 33 retains a child-like enthusiasm for his game. "We just hope we are mentally fine. We had a good, hard week of training last week. We brushed out a few cobwebs, and said a few things that needed to be said. So we'd hope that after that we'd be 100-per-cent mentally right.

"And we've the rest of the week now to finish that off. But without a doubt we're very upbeat about this. It's going to be a packed house up there, it's going to be a huge occasion. The tonic that we would get from beating Dublin would give us great, great confidence."

The question remains though as to what exactly went wrong against Mayo. Roscommon did rock and roll against both Sligo and Leitrim - each time going to a replay - but there was nothing to suggest a collapse of that magnitude. Again Curran only focuses on the positive.

"Players were just poor on the day, that's the reason. We know a repeat performance would be a complete disaster for us. And it's something we're trying very hard to guard against.

"And we do have a little bit of extra motivation now to play Dublin. I know you shouldn't need any extra motivation to play any game, but I suppose when you come off the back of a heavy defeat like we are, then you are looking for something to give you a bit of a fillip. The game against Dublin in Croke Park was just the ticket for that."

Despite the scarcity of championship games between them, Roscommon and Dublin need no introduction, nor any reminder of the closeness of their recent battles. Roscommon have twice beaten Dublin in Parnell Park since 2001, and went down narrowly at home last year.

Then there is the Tom Carr factor, the former Dublin manager prematurely ousted to make way for Tommy Lyons, and now holding the reins in Roscommon. You won't get Carr to talk of vengeance, but that doesn't mean the sentiment is lost on the Roscommon players.

"You could say it's an obvious advantage to have Tom Carr on our side," admits Curran. "But Tom will have a great insight into any team we're playing. He's always like that. Of course he'll know some of the Dublin lads particularly well. But we know ourselves from playing against Dublin on a number of occasions the sort of players they have. And they haven't changed that much over the last few couple of years. I'd know the likes of Senan Connell in particular, who is playing very well.

"But no matter who you are playing, it's about putting what Tom says between our two ears, because we didn't do that against Mayo. Everything he told us before that day we forgot about out on the field. So if you don't put it to work out on the pitch it's all useless really."

Curran appears to get fired up just talking about playing Dublin. Perhaps he's recalling the last time they played in the National League, when Roscommon needed a goal to salvage a result. Donning his superhero costume, Curran sprinted up the field to hover in the square of his opposite number. The rescue didn't quite come off and very nearly backfired.

"Funnily enough I've always enjoyed playing Dublin. And the last two times we played Dublin in Dublin we won. Maybe that will be an omen.

"But sure, look, they probably looked at us as a soft draw after the way we played against Mayo. You just don't know. I suppose they will be confident coming into this, because no matter who you are playing, winning games does give you confidence.

"And they did beat Leitrim comprehensively and also London and Longford. But sure maybe they'll be finished off with the Ls and not start with the Rs. So it's all about us turning it around. If not the whole thing will have to go back to the drawing board."

But as Carr has been known to say, a little pain can sometimes bring out the best in people.