![\"Roscommon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3861567_5_articleinline_94990_2978654_1_.jpg\" "\\"Roscommon")
Roscommon senior football manager, Mark Dowd, must turn his team into a competitive championship force outside Connacht. Picture: INPHO\/Tom O\u2019Hanlon<\/p>\nIt has been a recurring question in my head since Mayo\u2019s heroics in Croke Park on Sunday last \u2014 will Roscommon ever win the Sam Maguire Cup in my lifetime?<\/p>\n
The team that Roscommon humiliated in Castlebar only a few months ago have turned things around to scale their Mount Everest. It\u2019s an unprecedented story for the ages, a story that the whole country has become invested in because we feel as if we\u2019ve been part of the journey \u2014 how Mayo finally emerged from their House of Pain to conquer a prized possession that eluded them for 75 years.<\/p>\n
The celebrations have been raucous in Castlebar, Ballyhaunis and beyond this week, everything we imagined they might be when a stone-mad county for football finally delivers. That they did it at a time when it was least expected, among their support base and neutrals at least, makes it all the more special.<\/p>\n
\n Andy Moran is now the Jurgen Klopp of Mayo football. His love for the game alongside moulding a team that replicates his infectious enthusiasm has been the perfect match for Mayo\u2019s identity.\n <\/p>\n
The way they dismantled Kerry was a tribute to Moran\u2019s ability as a coach. But, arguably, this All-Ireland final was won under the bowels of the Hogan Stand in the aftermath of Mayo\u2019s 3-23 to 0-15 victory over Louth a couple of weeks earlier.<\/p>\n
Moran took umbrage at the suggestion that Mayo fans, based on past experiences, might not lose of the run of themselves in the lead-up last Sunday\u2019s final against Kerry.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet them go mad\u201d, he urged, cementing the unity between the players and their supporters. This week, they\u2019ve taken madness to a different stratosphere.<\/p>\n
Hailing from North Roscommon, I\u2019m not in a position to comment on the Mayo\/Roscommon rivalry in Ballaghaderreen. For me growing up, nothing beat getting the better of Sligo or Leitrim.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve read the stories of how best friends become divorced on the week of a Mayo\/Roscommon match. But you have to be from Frenchpark, Tiobhine, Loughlglynn, Lisacul or Gorthaganny to understand what makes the rivalry tick.<\/p>\n
But, surely, any fair-minded person in these areas can put that rivalry to one side and appreciate that a local lad is heavily responsible for one of the feel-good stories across the country and beyond this week. The welcome Moran and the rest of the Ballghaderreen contingent will receive on Thursday evening will be a testament to that.<\/p>\n
Roscommon senior football manager, Mark Dowd, must turn his team into a competitive championship force outside Connacht. Picture: INPHO\/Tom O\u2019Hanlon<\/p>\n
I\u2019m also sure that those same people in West Roscommon will be asking themselves the same question that has been whirling around in my head since 5.30 p.m. on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n
If Mayo can do it, why can\u2019t Roscommon?<\/p>\n
You\u2019d imagine that the answer to that one is quite complex \u2014 a bit like the Mayo\/Roscommon rivalry in Ballagh \u2014 but it\u2019s fairly simple really.<\/p>\n
Roscommon need to start competing before they can start dreaming.<\/p>\n
Roscommon haven\u2019t won a championship game in Croke Park since defeating Armagh in the 1980 All-Ireland semi-final.<\/p>\n
Since 1991 \u2014 the last time Roscommon were in the All-Ireland semi-final \u2014 they have only contested six quarter-finals (2001, 2003, 2010, 2017 and 2023), including a replay against Mayo in 2017.<\/p>\n
Of course, there were the Super 8s in 2018 and 2019, which weren\u2019t strictly quarter-finals, where Roscommon\u2019s record read: Played 6, Won 1, Lost 5. That\u2019s the record of a county on the outside looking in when it comes to being talked about as Sam Maguire Cup contenders, despite dipping in and out of Division One League football since 2016.<\/p>\n
We often hear that Roscommon are punching above their weight but that\u2019s not really the case outside of Connacht.<\/p>\n
Or to put it another way \u2014 since Roscommon last won a championship game in Croke Park 46 years ago, Mayo have played in 14 All-Ireland senior football finals, including replays and last Sunday\u2019s historic success.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s in Mayo\u2019s, and indeed Galway\u2019s, DNA to be in the shake-up for honours. Connacht titles are the height of Roscommon\u2019s ambitions for now. It\u2019s a reality that Mark Dowd must meet head-on during his tenure in charge.<\/p>\n
Maybe, the sight of Jack Coyne lifting the Sam Maguire Cup for our neighbours will be the tipping point. But Mayo\u2019s success will inspire every other county as well.<\/p>\n
Yes, we can dare to dream but, realistically, we need to start competing first. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It has been a recurring question in my head since Mayo\u2019s heroics in Croke Park on Sunday last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-575012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}