Renowned Saint Brigid’s GAA club and Roscommon goalkeeper Shane Curran feature prominently in Curraghboy native John Scally’s new book ‘100 Extraordinary GAA Occasions’.
“The GAA needs characters. Roscommon’s former goalkeeper Shane ‘Cake’ Curran is certainly one of them. A lot of people still remember the way Curran whipped up the Roscommon crowd into a frenzy with his antics in Croke Park against Kerry in the All-Ireland quarter-final in 2003, not to mention the way he scored a goal and an incredible point from the goalkeeper’s position against Sligo in the Connacht Championship in 2004.
“Someone once asked him - ‘so what’s a forward doing playing in goal for Roscommon?’ to which Curran replied, ‘I am trying to keep the ball out!’
Mistaken Identity
“At the height of his career Curran was in a well-known nightclub when he fell into conversation with a complete stranger. The combination of the loud music and the effects of a few glasses of something stronger than lemonade meant that the communication levels were not as they might have been. As they shook hands before parting Curran received an unusual request, ‘Any chance if I give you my address you would sign one of your CDs and send it on to me?’
A puzzled Curran inquired, ‘Who exactly do you think I am?’
‘You’re the lad from the Saw Doctors, aren’t you?’
Junior All-Ireland Win
In 2000 Shane won a Junior All-Ireland Final with Roscommon, his then manager Gay Sheeran having a vivid memory of the win.
‘You never knew what would happen next with Shane. In the replay Kerry got a score and the Kerry lads were catching a breather. The referee turned his back and started running up the field when suddenly the ball went over his head and landed seventy yards up the pitch before Kerry knew what had happened. Karol Mannion was the only one alive to the situation and set up a point. We won that All-Ireland by a point. What the referee never realised was that Shane had kicked the ball out from his hands and that’s why he got the ball up the field so quickly! That’s typical of Shane. He could give you acute blood pressure at times but when his moments of madness came off he could be a match-winner.’
Gladiatorial
In 2003 Roscommon played Galway in the Connacht Championship. Before the match Curran was in full Russell Crowe in Gladiator mode and intent on whipping the Rossies into a frenzy. He urged the team to give every last drop of blood to the cause. He stunned his teammates though by throwing a bag of blood on the dressing-room floor to stress the point. He told them that he had got the team doctor, Martin Daly, to take a pint of his blood to highlight the lengths he was prepared to go for the team. To this day the Roscommon players are unsure if it actually was his own blood – but knowing him they think he might be crazy enough to do it.
That was not the end to his stunts. He brought two pairs of gloves with him and put on the old pair and absolutely layered it with vaseline. Before the match he ran up to the Galway goalkeeper Alan Keane to shake hands with him hoping to cover his hands in vaseline so that he would let in a soft goal as a result. Keane did and Curran smiled with relish at this prospect on his way back to change into his new gloves but sadly for him the Galway netminder Keane had the sense and sensibility to cop on to his tricks before the vaseline did any damage and changed his gloves also.
And how was Curran rewarded for his cunning and unique motivational style? Galway hammered Roscommon.
John Scally’s new book 100 Extraordinary GAA Occasions is available in all good bookshops now.
