O’Connor learning to take the rough with the smooth

Win, lose or draw in Sunday’s Connacht SFC final, Mayo’s Cillian O’Connor and Sligo’s Pat Hughes intend to seek each other out after the final whistle, shake hands, and maybe swap their jerseys.

After all, it won’t be long until they are back living under the same roof again in Dublin, and heading to lectures together at St Pat’s teacher training college, Drumcondra.

Fate has conspired that the two friends will line up on opposite sides at Dr Hyde Park, Roscommon, but until the final whistle sounds on Sunday the lines of communication are down between Ballintubber and Geevagh.