Leitrim did Roscommon a huge turn by making Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada available to them at short notice for their glamour Allianz League clash with Dublin last month after Hyde Park was deemed unplayable, but Fergal O'Donnell isn't expecting the red carpet to be rolled out for the Rossies when they return to Carrick-on-Shannon today.

"Look, we were very fortunate to be able to play a league game, when needed, at Leitrim's fantastic facility, and we should be grateful to Leitrim for that," the Roscommon joint-manager said in the Westmeath Independent ahead of the Connacht SFC quarter-final.

"But Leitrim are a strong side and their manager (Shane Ward) has been talking on the radio about how his players want to show how much they deserve to be in the championship, competing in Connacht to go all the way.

"So it's going to be a tough game, no doubt about it, and I think the battle for supremacy among the middle eight will be the winning of the game for either side."

O'Donnell reckons the huge scare Roscommon received in New York a few weeks ago won't have done them any harm.

"Maybe, in some ways, the shock might be a blessing in disguise because if we had won in a very comfortable manner, it might have covered over some of the problems that exist in our team, problems that the management have been able to assess and, hopefully, address in the build-up to the Leitrim game."

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