'It’s a healthy rivalry' – Connacht’s complicated neighbours
CHEEK BY JOWL: Spectators watch the action duringa Connacht championship showdown between Roscommon and Galway at Dr Hyde Park. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile
It is not destined to grace any promotional brochures, but ask the locals on either side of the River Suck whether there is a rivalry between Galway and Roscommon and they offer up slightly differing versions of the same understatement: A bit.
This week in the wonder that is Billy’s Discount Store in Ballinasloe, they sell maroon and white and blue and primrose flags side-by-side. The local waterway group merged both county colours together for their emblematic design. They sit like two cousins in adjoining parishes, easy in each other’s company, close enough to bicker and united in a shared disdain for the noisy neighbour up the road.
“It’s a healthy rivalry,” says Shannonside’s Willie Hegarty, the peerless local commentator.
“Roscommon and Mayo is a bitter rivalry, Roscommon simply don’t like losing to Mayo and if we were to play Mayo on the Monday after the beating we gave them in Castlebar, they’d say we’ll beat Roscommon. That is just the way they are. Whereas Roscommon could be in Division 4 and Galway would always say, ‘Roscommon are a traditional football county. They’ll take beating.’’”
The depth of any animosity can be measured by the frequency of cross-border migration. While the previous Mayo management had one Galway representative and John O’Mahony is a Tribe legend, the phenomenon is still rare. Roscommon have had successive Galway managers, in a tradition that extends both ways.
On Sunday, the 2001 Connacht champions will be celebrated at the Hyde. Five-time Connacht champion and Tuam clubman John Tobin was in charge of them. It was three years after the rapturous scenes that accompanied Galway’s triumph, via a replay and extra-time. Two-time All-Star and Mountbellew’s prodigal son Val Daly came later and recently, Anthony Cunningham followed in Tobin’s footsteps by downing his native county with the Rossies.
That is not to mention a host of interwoven clubs who have done similar. Current Roscommon boss Mark Dowd spent a year in Galway with Cortoon. Pádraic Joyce’s late uncle Billy and Don Connellan, who was part of the 2001 side and died at the age of 51 last year, led powerhouse clubs in both counties.
Relations have simmered in recent years between these two groups in particular as they met repeatedly and took chunks out of each other. In 2016, Galway triumphed in the decider after a replay. Roscommon hit back in 2017 and 2019 with Galway claiming another in 2018.
It led to all sorts of wonderful anarchy. In an FBD League pre-season game seven years ago, there was all-out war with the referee brandishing 17 cards in total. Even their managers had nurtured grudges. Former manager Kevin Walsh spelt out one particular affront they carried into the 2018 final.
“Now I must be clear on one thing,” he wrote in his book, The Invisible Game. “I have tremendous admiration for Kevin. But whether by accident or design, he had shown disrespect to Galway 12 months previously in doing something you never see in the GAA, shaking hands before the final whistle and leaving early.
“So yeah, we used it as motivation and I enjoyed it when it was my turn. But I hold no grudge against Kevin. I respect him for taking on the Roscommon job and for what he did with it.” The origins of that discord were two gifted U21 teams that played out several thrillers. In 2013, Damien Comer, Shane Walsh, and Liam Silke’s contingent came up against a outfit that featured Enda Smith as well as recently retired stalwarts like Donie Smith, David Murray, and Ciarán Murtagh.
“It came up for me recently, 13 years ago,” says Alan Flynn, the Galway U21 manager at the time. Having previously coached Clare, Kildare and Offaly, Flynn is currently coaching Roscommon club Pádraig Pearses.
“My god. It was one of those moments that makes you stop. But if you think of that Roscommon team, they made an All-Ireland final a year previous. Donie and Enda Smith, Murtagh, they were all coming. There is an awful lot of Roscommon players who came through those teams. In fairness, they have an amazing ability to do that.” The crux of it is this constant battle. Local concern is about population and pitches, always. The recently crowned Connacht U20 champions trained routinely in Galway or Mayo. The rate of graduation from their underage sides to the senior ranks is remarkable because it has to be. Two years ago, the counties met in an U20 final. Four of that Roscommon team will play on Sunday. The corresponding figure for Galway is none.
“Some of the clubs here are struggling,” says Flynn. “You would hear it a lot. ‘We need to really make it count.’ Any player who shows promise, they really look after them. There is a lot going on behind the scenes to develop players. It’s like the classic small club where numbers are tight.” Who better equipped to navigate that landscape than Mark Dowd? For Hegarty, that is the logic of such an appointment.
“Ian Daly was involved with Glaveys. Mark was involved with Roscommon Gaels. John Rogers was with Strokestown. They saw it all first-hand. The competitiveness of Roscommon clubs, Mark would have known exactly what was there. He didn’t need to host trials. He knew these lads inside and out.”
In the aftermath of the spectacular victory over Mayo, Dowd made a point of stressing the need to give their support something to shout about.
“He brought the team into the middle of Times Square. Small things like that, suddenly supporters mingling with Daire Cregg and Enda Smith there. That is the kind of stuff that means a lot for supporters.”
Between the white lines, the civilised veneer that extends along the border will evaporate. Both will depart on Sunday evening safe in the knowledge that whatever was extracted was hard-earned. For Hegarty, it is about honesty.
“All you want is a team that you know, even if Galway win the match, Roscommon will have thrown everything at them.”
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