Time to make most of Rossies’ underage success, insists Shine

FOUR years have whizzed by since Roscommon claimed an All-Ireland minor title by defeating Kerry in a replay in Ennis but Donie Shine accepts the time has come for the county to transfer that success to the senior stage.

Shine was the star man among that 2006 crop but he is just one of a plethora of players to have graduated to the senior side that is guided by their successful underage mentor of the time Fergal O’Donnell.

And the underage ranks have continued to record some modest successes in recent seasons with three appearances in provincial minor finals serving as an appetiser for the Connacht U21 title claimed earlier this term.