It is that time of year again. John O'Mahony wrapped in his oil-skins, standing outside the dressing room door, shaking the offered hands, a million things on his mind. Penned against a wall, he bows to the inevitable."Right so. Shoot." Tell us where it all went right, John.
"Mmmmh. No, I mean it was a workmanlike performance in the second half . There were two decisive factors in the second half. One was the wind. The second was that there were no goals scored. That was always going to make it close. But all I would say to people is that there is a lot of idle talk about who is going to progress in the championship and all that kind of thing. But when you go into the provincial system, it is a dog-eat-dog situation. So Ros were always going to put it up to us there today."
There have been times in the O'Mahony era when Galway played irresistible football and somehow landed in trouble at the close of games. Here, they did enough but always looked in control. Up six points at the break, the manager must have been happy enough for his players to sit back and admire the new facilities at Pearse Stadium.
"Well, you are never happy with it but at the end of the day, a wind doesn't win or lose matches. But sometimes there are advantages to playing against the wind - you get more space up front. But Ja came in, a huge servant to Galway, and it was great to have a man like that to call upon . But we have a huge match against Leitrim in Carrick-on-Shannon in two weeks time and we will have to improve upon that." Surely some mistake. Events in New York would suggest that O'Mahony's old county are not about to set off any bombs this summer.
"Well, what I would say is yeah, Leitrim beat New York in extra time. I remember going into extra time against New York with this team a few years ago. So I would say Leitrim would love the thought of a rattle against Galway now. Carrick can be a fortress for Leitrim so we have a few nuts to crack in order to win there and we will give this game every respect."
Across the way, Tom Carr, tanned and solemn, is the latest in a long procession of Roscommon managers to pay homage to Galway's supremacy. The Dublinman has worked himself to the bone with his Connacht charges all winter. This cannot be the final reward.
"Well, I felt we did very well in the first half in sticking with them. Second half we came out and got the two points we required and then we seemed to go a little bit flat. We could have got a few more points with the possession we had but overall, it was a fair enough contest. The conditions were horrific and really good football went out the window."
The hard facts are that Roscommon are following league relegation with a first round championship defeat. Maybe this will take its toll.
"No, I don't think so. We are heartened by today in that we are exorcising the league fall-out and the few back results that we have had. We are still in it. It is difficult to see how the next round will pan out but we will be competitive. But this is a long-term goal for us. It is not all going to happen over the space of two or three months."
