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Rossies

Chris O'Dowd's childhood hero takes centre stage

One player in tomorrow’s All-Ireland club football semi-final has the support of the Hollywood star behind him.

“I WOULD TAKE advice from him like I would take advice from a drunk clown.”

The assertion of Chris O’Dowd last summer when speaking on The Sunday Game about Roscommon goalkeeper Shane Curran.

The Bridesmaids and Moone Boy star appeared in the ‘My Hero’ segment of the RTÉ GAA show where he spoke of his Rossies childhood idols – Curran and former midfielder John Newton.

Curran was senior netminder for the county during the 90′s and 00′s while Boyle was the Roscommon minor goalkeeper in 1997.

Tomorrow 42 year-old Curran, a charismatic goalkeeper who was described by O’Dowd as ‘the Bruce Grobbelaar of Gaelic footballers’, will be lining out for his club St Brigid’s against Crossmaglen Rangers in the AIB All-Ireland club semi-final in Mullingar.

And Kevin McStay, manager of the St Brigid’s team tomorrow, was the manager of the minor side that O’Dowd featured for in 1997.

Speaking to TheScore.ie, Curran described O’Dowd’s mentioning of him as ‘a kind gesture’ and added that the Boyle native was ‘a fantastic ambassador’ for the county with his successful acting career.

“I’ve had many a mention of that RTÉ clip since,” laughed Curran.

“I wouldn’t have known Chris but when you were playing senior for the county, you’d take an interest as to how the county’s underage teams were faring. I remember him playing for the minors and he was a good goalkeeper.

“I tweeted him to thank him for the kind gesture. It was a very nice thing to do. But I reckon he made the right move going with the acting.

“He’s a Hollywood hero now and has done very well for himself. He’s a fantastic ambassador for Roscommon with all that he has achieved and we’d all be very proud of him in the county.”

YouTube: rte

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