Roscommon senior football manager Des Newton is ready for the challenge of kicking off the Allianz Football League without a number of key men.
The Rossies will go into their Division Three campaign missing several stars who will be lining out for St Brigid's as their All-Ireland club SFC campaign goes on, however Newton says preparations remain on course.
Newton has taken over from Fergal O’Donnell and, as he prepares to meet Mayo in the FBD league this weekend, his mood could only be descrbed as upbeat.
"It's very early in the season to be talking about anything much,” Newton said to the Irish Independent.
“I'm the same as any other county manager with players' availability at this time of year, and we also have St Brigid's in the All-Ireland club semi-final.
"We've been doing a lot of strength work, trying to catch up a bit because of the timing of the appointment. We got a fair bit out of the first match against GMIT because it came on the back of a challenge against Donegal on the Friday night beforehand.
"Last Sunday we looked a bit sluggish against Leitrim, but we'll hope to improve the performance against Mayo and then get down to preparing over the next two weeks for (the league opener against) Tipperary.
“It's important we make good use of those two weeks, particularly the weekend, to do what we can to be ready for the start of the league."