Peter Canavan: Roscommon cannot afford to take Sligo for granted

Roscommon's forwards can fire them into the Connacht final but Sligo will punish any complacency, says Peter Canavan...

I’m looking forward to Saturday’s Connacht semi-final in Markievicz Park and seeing if Roscommon are up to the standard of not only defeating Sligo, but stopping Mayo’s surge for five in a row.

This is a difficult encounter for Roscommon because they will be going into the game as hot favourites. John Evans needs to be careful that his younger players don’t have one eye on Mayo and take the Yeats County for granted. I felt Roscommon’s U21's fell into this trap in their All-Ireland semi-final loss to Tyrone.

Evans has got serious attacking options at his disposal and one of the highlights of the National League was the match-winning performance of Senan Kilbride in their final win over Down. He has a strong supporting cast up front and if Roscommon can get a steady supply of ball into these men, there can only be one winner.

John Evans needs to be careful that his younger players don’t have one eye on Mayo and take Sligo for granted.

From a Sligo perspective, their league form was very much up and down. Some strong performances were blotted by not turning up against the likes of Fermanagh and Clare.

Having watched them a number of times last year, I found they were a hard-working team with good physique and strong in the tackle, but while they were quick to get men behind the ball, their transition from defence to attack left a lot to be desired. This was epitomised in their exit to Cork in the qualifiers, where they scored just one point from play in a disappointing first half.

With quicker movement of the ball and keeping their three danger men - Adrian Marren, Mark Brehony and David Kelly - closer to goal, they will pose a threat for any defence.

However, Sligo’s last competitive game was against Armagh on April 5 and that doesn't help their chances. Roscommon already have a game under their belts and I expect them to push on.

Monaghan must up their game

We are also at the semi-final stage in Ulster and the week hasn't started well for Monaghan ahead of their meeting with Fermanagh. Their main man marker, Drew Wylie, has been ruled out for the rest of the season and that’s coupled with suspension of Thomas Connolly.

Malachy O’Rourke will be looking for an improved performance because if they play to the same level as they did against Cavan, Fermanagh have a chance of turning them over.

The return of Eoin Donnelly will be a massive boost to the Ernesiders as he’s a player I rate very highly. He will give everything for the cause.

This game could well be decided by the impact of the two main scoring threats at full-forward – Fermanagh’s Sean Quigley and Monaghan’s Conor McManus. Both players are exceptional point takers and beautiful strikers of the ball.

With Wylie out injured, I expect the long-ball tactic to feature prominently in Fermanagh’s attacking strategy. Monaghan are somewhat more versatile in that they can play a running game, as well as getting the ball in early to McManus.

I don’t expect this game to be as clear cut for Monaghan as many are predicting. 

This weekend's qualifiers look more predictable, however, If you're expecting shocks you're going to be disappointed. I can’t see there being any upsets and all four favourites should come out on top.

Are Donegal peaking too soon?

We learnt two things from a hectic afternoon of football last Sunday. Firstly, National League form doesn't lie and secondly, the bookies are seldom wrong. So many games went as predicted.

We've learned that Donegal are a reinvigorated team and in Michael Murphy they have the stand-out player in the country.

It was surprising from an Armagh point of view that they didn't replicate Tyrone’s tactic of man-marking Murphy and Paddy McBrearty, which proved successful. They were made to pay for it inside 20 minutes.

I still think that it’s very early for Donegal to be peaking though. The third Sunday in September is still a long way away and it’ll be a remarkable achievement from Rory Gallagher and his staff if he can replicate Sunday’s performance throughout the summer.

In the west, we had our first chance to see if Mayo were going to bring anything new to the table. The answer is yes from an attacking point of view, but problems in defence remain. Their new management have seen the need to deploy an effective target man and Aidan O’Shea wreaked havoc at full-forward against Galway.

Galway have so many talented players and will improve, but they also need to restructure their defensive system. Similar to previous years, they were too easily broken down.

Watch Sligo v Roscommon live on Sky Sports 5 on Saturday from 6.45pm. Get a NOW TV pass from only £6.99