Roscommon have an extroverted manager from Kerry who talks them up. He was the same in Tipperary, talking about transforming Tipperary into All Ireland contenders. When it comes to gaelic football, Kerry people don’t suffer from a lack of confidence or low expectations and demands. That seems to me, to be where the Roscommon PR machine starts and ends. Roscommon are about a once a decade Connacht winning county. As I’ve said Sligo v Roscommon is as close as you’ll get to an even match in championship football. A 5/5 split from their last 10 meetings over the last 35 years bears that out and in population terms they’re pretty evenly matched too - Sligo is the 26th most populous of the 32 counties and Roscommon the 27th.
If Roscommon have a tendency to talk themselves up a bit, its down to their tradition, they won All Ireland’s in the 40’s and were All Ireland finalists in 1962 and 1980. Counties with tradition do that. Cavan and Down people are not slow about telling you about all their All Ireland’s and Ulster titles, even though in Cavan’s case you’re going back over half a century to the last time Cavan were a national force.