'It’s a healthy rivalry' – Connacht’s complicated neighbours

Galway and Roscommon -- who meet in the Connacht showpiece on Sunday -- 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.

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.