Southern stranglehold broken in Roscommon football

For the first time since 2009, none of the three South Roscommon powerhouse clubs - St Brigid's, Clann na nGael or Padraig Pearses - will contest the county senior football final.

St Brigid's were knocked out by Boyle in last Sunday's semi-final on a scoreline of 1-12 to 0-12 at Dr Hyde Park, with the only goal of the game coming from a Donie Smith penalty.

Remarkably, the result sees Boyle advance to their first Roscommon SFC final since all the way back in 1927.

St Brigid's had eliminated local rivals Clann na nGael at the quarter-final stage, but their hopes of going on to reach the decider were thwarted by a hungry Boyle outfit.

2021 champions Padraig Pearses - who were also the defending Connacht champions - were knocked out by Roscommon Gaels in the quarter-finals.

However, the Gaels were unable to go on and reach the final, with Frankie Dolan's charges losing out to Strokestown by 2-8 to 0-11 in their semi-final. And so, the 2022 final will be a novel pairing of Boyle and Strokestown.

For the record, the aforementioned 2009 final saw Castlerea St Kevin's overcome Western Gaels. Since then St Brigid's have won eight titles, including five in a row from 2010 to 2014 - a period which also saw the Kiltoom club win the All-Ireland crown.

For their part, Clann na nGael and Padraig Pearses have lifted the Fahey Cup on two occasions each since 2009, with Pearses' breakthrough success coming under the management of Pat Flanagan in 2019.

Clann still lead the roll of honour in Roscommon club football with 21 senior titles.