There is much local sporting interest in Curraghboy native, John Scally’s recent publication entitled, ‘100 Great GAA Teams’.
The author selects Westmeath’s historic 2004 Leinster final winning as one of his successful teams and pays a humorous tribute to the manager of that team Paídí Ó’Sé, noting that every encounter with Páidí was memorable.
One such story recalls that after Páidí died his best friend got into the habit of going to the pub every Saturday night and ordering two pints – one for himself and one in memory of Páidí. He explained why to the barman who quickly got used to his weekly ritual. He was surprised one Saturday evening when the man only ordered one pint and asked him if he was okay because he only ordered one pint.
Páidí’s friend answered, ‘Ah sure I’m grand but I gave up the drink for Lent.’
Apart from selecting two Roscommon teams Scally also pays tribute to Drum’s Donie Shine who retired from football earlier this year. He also pays a tribute to the late Ray Fallon - the Monksland resident was one of the giants of Roscommon hurling.
“I must conclude by celebrating the feat of my own club St Brigids who won consecutive Roscommon county finals in 1958 and 1959, nothing extraordinary in that you might think.
“However, what makes this double remarkable was that they featured the exact same team lining out in each game (with no positional switches ) and by not introducing a single substitute over the two campaigns,” John remarked.
100 Great GAA Teams by John Scally is available in all good bookshops now.
