Conor Cox will be looking to preserve Roscommon’s top flight status by outwitting his former Kerry teammates in Hyde Park tomorrow.
A Listowel native, Cox transferred to his father’s county this year after his Kerry senior career, which encompassed seven League appearances from 2013-16, had run aground.
Indeed, what proved to be his final game for Kerry was against Roscommon three years ago when the Division One newcomers scored a surprise win in Killarney.
Kerry avenged that defeat with a League semi-final trouncing of Roscommon later in the year but Cox was struggling to break into a talented forward line at that stage and his Championship appearances for the county were limited to junior level, a grade at which he won All-Irelands in 2012, 15 and ‘17, along with minor and under-21.
Teammates on the last of those success included current Kerry seniors Tomas O Se and Tadhg Morley, who he’s likely to encounter at Hyde Park tomorrow.
While it’s still early days, Cox’s acquisition appears to have been a good one for Roscommon with the talented forward having hit 1-21 in five appearances already.
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Lining up against Kerry will surely tug at his emotions to some degree tomorrow, though the fact that his home county doesn’t need the points nearly as badly as his adopted one - and may not even need them at all - should help take some of the edge off it.
For Roscommon to avoid relegation, they need a win or draw if Monaghan lose to Mayo. If Monaghan were to draw, Roscommon would have to win to stay up.
A Monaghan win would render events in Hyde Park meaningless in a relegation context.
Kerry are almost certainly in the final but the defeat to Mayo has still created the potential for a certain set of results to undo them.
That might just be enough to ensure they don’t show any mercy to fellow countyman Cox or Roscommon.
VERDICT: Kerry
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