Connacht hopeful of ending 37-year interprovincial famine

THE year was 1969. Richard Nixon became the 37th president of the United States, The Beatles said farewell with an impromptu concert on the roof of the Apple Records building, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, and Connacht won their ninth and last interprovincial football title.

Only two of those occurrences were momentous events of course. Nobody, not even in Connacht, lies awake at night pondering why their representative team has failed to claim title number 10.

That said, the renamed M Donnelly Interprovincial Championship is, after all, a four-horse race, and the fact the boys west of the Shannon haven’t managed to triumph again in 37 years almost beggars belief.