'It's great for the town' - Boyle football on the rise

While their male compatriots are looking to bridge a 96-year gap this weekend, the Boyle ladies footballers created their own piece of history in Ballyforan last Saturday.

In their very first year at the grade – having secured the intermediate crown in the county a little over 12 months ago – Boyle claimed the Roscommon LGFA SFC title with a sensational 3-8 to 2-4 triumph over previous champions Clann na nGael.

Although it is their second successive appearance in a decider, the Boyle men's footballers will be looking to get their hands on a first Roscommon SFC trophy since 1927 when they take on St Brigid’s at Dr Hyde Park tomorrow.

There is certainly plenty of inspiration that this side can take from the Boyle women, who lost back-to-back intermediate finals in 2020 and 2021 before eventually sealing the second-tier title in October 2022.

In their against-the-odds victory at the expense of Clann na nGael seven days ago, inter-county star Róisín Wynne produced a player of the match display from centre half-back.

Despite playing down her own contribution to the win, there is no underestimating how significant Boyle’s remarkable rise through the ladies football ranks is proving to be at local level.

"It just happened to be me that day, but it could have been absolutely anyone. All year there has been girls keeping us over the line. I think that was definitely one thing that stood to us this year, that we didn’t rely on any one player ever in any game.

"We felt we had such depth in the team that it didn’t matter if there was one or two girls missing," Wynne said.

"We’ve always had great supporters, but definitely in the past couple of years we’ve really felt the town getting behind us and we’ve had lovely messages from people.