Dara Ó Cinnéide: There’s something about Roscommon

General election duties for Raidió na Gaeltachta a fortnight ago dictated I spent two days in Cork City Hall. Before the start of the second day’s counting, I was having breakfast when I was approached by a dyed-in-the-wool Rossie.

He was down for the day from Arigna with his brother and three nephews and having been in Killarney three weeks earlier when his county shocked Kerry, he wanted to get my views on how people in the Kingdom felt Roscommon were faring in Division 1.

“Couldn’t argue with the result,” says I, “Kerry didn’t do enough to win it.” It being February and all, I suggested Cork would give them a better indication of where they were. That much had the band of Rossies now gathering around the breakfast table grimacing and shaking heads and wondering aloud if the fine day would suit them as much as the rain on their first two days out in Division 1. I diverted the conversation from football to geography.