Connacht champions urged to keep proving themselves

The Roscommon minor footballers — who brought honour and glory to the county by winning a Connacht title in 2025 — have been urged to keep proving themselves to reach the next level.

The players were presented with their provincial medals by former county senior footballers Donie Smith, Ciaráin Murtagh and Niall Daly, who urged the class of 2025 to keep climbing the ladder to play U-20 and senior football for Roscommon.

“Enjoy these nights, but park it and go again,” said Smith.

“Just keep proving yourself because it’s a big ladder all the way up to U-20 and senior,” he encouraged.

Niall Daly agreed, telling the players to be proud of their achievement, but “push on” over the coming years.

“Try and get to the next level but you have to do a lot of the work yourselves in terms of strength and conditioning,” he noted.

Ciaráin Murtagh revealed that he regretted not having a Connacht minor medal.

“What you have achieved means that you will have friends here for life,” he stated.

In an interview with MC Willie Hegarty, the trio — who played 404 times for the Rossies between them — reflected on their careers, with Smith feeling that Roscommon teams needed to have a higher opinion of themselves on the national stage.

“I’ve always felt that Roscommon are as good as there is. But we didn’t make an All-Ireland semi-final, so, as a group, I think we underachieved.

“Even when we don’t win games, we should be looking up instead of looking down,” he stated.

Ciaráin Murtagh noted that his career highlight was captaining Roscommon to the Connacht SFC title in 2017, adding that he’ll always remember the camaraderie around games and training.

Minor football team captain from 2025, Dara Curan — who was joined on stage by team-mates Dean Casey and Shay McGuinness — reflected that it was nice to win the Tom Kilcoyne Cup for his family and his club, recalling the memories from the bonfires in Castlerea St. Kevin’s on their triumphant return from the 2-14 to 1-15 victory against Mayo in last May’s Connacht final.

Shay McGuinness echoed his captain’s comments, saying that one of his highlights of the year was the roar from the Roscommon crowd as the team headed for the sanctuary of the dressing rooms at Kingspan Breffni ahead of extra-time against Louth in the All-Ireland quarter-final.

“When I heard the crowd, I just knew we were going to win that day. It was great to do everyone proud,” said the Clann na nGael player.

Dean Casey, who will line out for St. Nathy’s College, Ballaghaderreen, in this year’s Connacht B final on Friday week, clarified that Nathy’s is “definitely a Roscommon school”, adding that it was great to see the school back in a provincial decider.

“I was struggling with injury for a while but the (Roscommon) coaches gave me everything I needed,” he said.

A special presentation was made to Dara Curran, who politely declined to sing “The Rose of Castlerea”, to mark his inclusion on the 2025 Electric Ireland Minor Football Team of the Year.