[QUOTE=“Tonymac, post: 1142193, member: 2956”]Hype like a now Div one team been currently 3rd favorites for Connacht or 40/1 for Sam? In Jan the experts said Roscommon would struggle to stay up in div two.
Population is even less than 63,000 as Roscommon are not allowed to pick from one of their biggest towns Ballaghaderreen
Armagh were a Div one team in 2012 and were odds on to win that game.
Roscommon beat Sligo against the odds 5/1 that day as Sligo had beaten both Galway and Mayo that year and in 2012 Mayo won Connacht by beating Leitrim at home in the semi final and Sligo in the final.
I doubt Roscommon were “big” favourites as Armagh had just beaten Tyrone away. If Roscommon were favourites it would be because they had were at home and had a big win over Cavan away and Roscommon were promoted to div 2 while Armagh relegated to div 3. You have poor understanding of the betting market if you think that was completely absurd and wholly ignorant.
Everyone talking really?
As i said in my first post Roscommon have been playing div 3/4 football for over a decade were div 4 in 2011 and only rose out of div 3 last year, few if any sides can take championship scalps or make much of impact from that low level base. In 2009 Roscommon lost by 20 points to average Mayo side that eventually lost to Meath in quarter final. Compared to Last year Roscommon lost to a good Mayo side that reached back to back All Ireland finals by just one point. So even in the defeat the improvement is there to be seen.[/QUOTE]
No, as I clarified earlier, hype like a team who hasn’t had a noticeable championship scalp in at least 8 years being ranked as the 8th team for the All Ireland favourite. They may be playing in Div 1 next year but they are going straight back down and it could get very nasty for both them and Down there.
I do understand the betting market and a lot of it is funneled by hype and having lads buy into it, Roscommon were 8/11 to beat Armagh last year. I remember browsing the forum at the time and seeing Il Bomber Destro tip Armagh for this and give a very good explanation on his rationale - I made a fortune off it. Roscommon were being backed to beat Armagh with little basis ,as you said Armagh were after coming off an impressive win against Tyrone whereas have Roscommon beat a limited Cavan outfit who are another side who have been vastly overhyped in the past years.
How big is Ballaghderreen, does it have a population of about 10,000 or is it a small rural village? If you’re claiming a loss of about 1,000 or 2,000 then it’s risible and maybe an indicating factor on why Roscommon have done nothing credible in the last 8 years. Let’s judge the Armagh team they beat on their merits, in the 2011 season they were hammered by Derry in Ulster and taken to extra time by Wicklow. They were dumped out of Ulster in 2012 by Tyrone in their first game and then beat by Roscommon. In 2013 Armagh they were embarrassed by Cavan before an ordinary Galway outfit accounted for them in the qualifiers. In 2011-2013 they managed three Championship victories - one against Down, an extra time victory against Wicklow and a hammering of Leitrim - if you’re claiming them as a scalp then again I think it says a lot about Roscommon.
Roscommon beat Sligo in 2010 at 5/1, magnificent. Sligo beat Mayo and Galway that year, unreal. Now I really want to draw significant attention here, Mayo were knocked out of the 2010 All Ireland by Longford, Galway were knocked out by Wexford and Sligo ended up being on the wrong end of a 19 point drubbing by Down. If you consider that an achievement then you’re easily pleased. Sligo in effect had beaten Galway and Mayo sides who went to suffer embarrassing defeats before themsleves being knocked out by 19 points. So to add more weight to my earlier claim, the 2010 Connacht championship win by Roscommon was without doubt the softest provincial triumph in recent history.
