Making most of what they have helps Rossies punch above their weight

By John Harrington

As a football county, Roscommon punch well above their weight.

In the last 10 years they’ve won nine Connacht titles between the minor, U20, and senior grades compared eight for Mayo and 10 for Galway.

That ability to duke it out on pretty much even terms with their provincial rivals is impressive when you consider they have a much smaller pool of players to fish from.

The 2022 census shows Roscommon as having a population of just over 70,000, which is quite a bit shy of Mayo at 138,000 and Galway at 278,000.

But what they lack in numbers they successfully make up for with a pure passion for the game combined with canny administration.

Back in 2012, the Roscommon county board did a root and branch review of all things football related in the county from coaching, to infrastructure, to finance.

The measures they put in place on the back of that considerable piece of work have clearly played a big part in the current rude health of the game in the county.

“They say it takes 10 plus years to change the culture and I think we have good foundations there in place now, and good structures, and hopefully now we'll be able to build on that going forward,” says County Board Chairperson, Thomas Murray.

“Our county team managements have been putting a huge amount of work in, as we know, in terms of team preparation.

“But there’s huge work going on off the field in the county as well. We have a great Executive Committee at the moment and very functional sub-committees, so there’s a fantastic team there.”

Roscommon’s senior, U20, and minor teams didn’t just won their provincial titles this year, they won them in some style by playing adventurous, attacking football.

You can’t do that unless you have a solid base in terms of the skills of the game, and that’s something that Roscommon’s Coaching and Games Department have really gone after in recent years.

First, under former previous Head of Games Development, Willie Hegarty, and now under his successor Padraic Mitchell.

“Padraic and his team put in huge work there at underage with development squads and we can see the fruits of that there now coming through with our minors, U20s, and seniors this year,” says Murray.

“We are a very small county, the seventh smallest in terms of population, so we are very proud of what we've done in the last few years.

“They say that from small acorns grow might oaks, and it's true.

“There’s great coaching going on in the clubs too, you can see that in the quality of our club championships.

“You have St. Bridget's getting to All-Ireland Senior Finals, Strokestown doing really well this year at Intermediate level, and St. Croan's in the Junior A.

“Any club team that has left Roscommon have gone on to do us very proud. I think other counties look on now wondering who's going to come out of Roscommon because if you get out of Roscommon you're a good team.

“St. Brigid's were very unfortunate to lose the senior club final this year and I think if Padraig Pearses had won the county final they would have given it as equally good a shot. Club football is in a very good place in Roscommon.

“In order to have a good county team the work has to be done at club level and our clubs are certainly doing that.”

The clubs have also given county teams a lot of support in terms of training facilities.

Work will soon begin on the Dermot Earley Centre of Excellence, but in the absence of a central training facility for county teams a ‘Meitheal’ approach has kept the show on the road.

“We have no training grounds, and we're really starved of that at the moment, but we're very fortunate we have excellent clubs in our county,” says Murray.

“Our clubs have kept us afloat in terms of being generous giving up their grounds and without them we wouldn't be able to function, so I just want to put on record my thanks to them.

“We've had two major projects over the last number of years. Hyde Park and the Centre of Excellence. Hyde Park is our county ground and needs huge work. A lot of work has been put into it, a lot of money, just over €2 million has been spent on it.

“I think anyone who was at the Connacht Final or was watching it, certainly as Roscommon people we've very, very proud of that. While there's still a bit of work to be done there, our next focus really is the Centre of Excellence.

“Hopefully the day will come sooner rather than later when we will have our Centre of Excellence.

“A lot of work has gone on in the background, we've received funding through the large-scale infrastructure fund, and we're hoping to hear news shortly in relation to the IIP fund as well. Hopefully that's going to be sooner rather than later.”

Roscommon will raise a significant chunk of the funds themselves through ‘Club Rossie’, which is the county board’s very successful commercial and fundraising arm.

Smaller counties tend to struggle to compete with bigger ones in terms of raising the funds necessary to prepare their county teams to the very highest standard, but not Roscommon.

25 counties have bigger populations, but only 11 spent more on their county teams in 2025.

Since 2019 Club Rossie have organised three ‘win a house’ fundraisers that have netted almost two and a half million euros, which is a testament both to their level of organisation and the willingness of the Roscommon faithful to back their teams to the hilt.

“Club Rossie are synonymous throughout the country at this point with fundraising and we've a fantastic team there too,” says Murray.

“Prior to Club Rossie we really didn't have a fund-raising arm in place. My predecessor Brian Carroll and myself and two or three others got a Roscommon Supporters Club going but really and it was grand for covering expenses for team costs like maybe a meal after a game but if you're serious about putting in good structures in place, improving the infrastructure, and investing in your teams, you need someone like Club Rossie behind you.

“We have a fantastic team there in Club Rossie. It's currently led by Joe Gilligan, he's our chairperson. Pat Compton did tremendous work there also for 10 years before that.

“We also have a commercial person, John Mee, who's dealing with all our businesses now, and we hope to expand the business end of Club Rossie as well.

“So, look, a huge amount of work has gone on there in the background, and, please God, the success that we've had now with the minor, the under-20, and the seniors we'll be able to build on that over the next few weeks and months.”

Another full house is expected at King & Moffat Hyde Park for Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC Round 1 clash with Tyrone, a county commonly regarded as a true heavyweight.

The Rossies won’t mind, they’ll come out swinging like they always do.