All-Ireland winning manager to take over Roscommon

A former All-Ireland winning manager will be the new man in charge of the Roscommon intermediate ladies’ football team.

Finbar Egan is expected to be ratified as the new manager of the county’s flagship ladies’ football side for a two-year term at a Roscommon LGFA county board meeting this evening (Wednesday).

He takes over from Ollie Lennon who stepped down following Roscommon’s All-Ireland quarter-final loss against Leitrim, having spent three years at the helm.

A successful manager with Clann na nGael in the nineties, which included a Connacht club title in 1995, Egan went on to take charge of the Mayo senior ladies’ football team.

He subsequently spearheaded the most successful period in the county’s history where they contested five All-Ireland finals between 1999 and 2003, winning four of them.

In 2021, Egan, who lives in Summerhill in South Roscommon, returned to Clann na nGael, helping the club win its first senior ladies’ football title in 24 years, and breaking Kilbride’s dominance of the local club scene.

Clann retained their title in 2022 and ran Kilkerrin/Clonberne close in the Connacht club championship.

But Clann’s hopes for a hat-trick of Roscommon titles were ended last season when they were shocked by first-time winners, Boyle, in the county final.

In a statement, Roscommon LGFA said: "Finbar has a wealth of knowledge and experience of coaching and managing across numerous age grades and levels.

"We would like to wish Finbar and his incoming management team the very best of luck for the coming season and beyond."

Roscommon will face some of the best teams in the country in Division Two of the LGFA National League in 2025, while they will also have designs to follow in Leitrim’s footsteps and bring an All-Ireland intermediate ladies’ football title west of the Shannon.