When Irish actor Chris O’Dowd appeared on American TV recently, he did his best to convince the audience that Roscommon are the greatest ever GAA team.
The Moone Boy star was a guest on Stephen Colbert’s show to promote his new series – Get Shorty – and the topic moved on to Irish sports.
O’Dowd is actually an excellent Gaelic footballer, and played for Roscommon juniors as a goalkeeper.
Colbert’s family heritage can be traced back to Roscommon so the two had plenty to talk about.
He told O’Dowd: “Your accent betrays that you’re a foreigner. You’re not from around here stranger. I understand you’re from Roscommon.”
O’Dowd replied: “Roscommon is nice. A lot of bog. A lot of peat. If you’re into soil, it’s really the place for you.
“You probably don’t know this but we have the best football team in Ireland… I mean Gaelic Football, which is a sport for… strong men.
“I played a bit because I was tall, which is a big advantage.”
Unfortunately, O’Dowd may have exaggerated Roscommon’s superiority over the rest of Ireland – they were soundly beaten (0-09 – 4-19) in the quarter final of the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship by Mayo.
Elsewhere in the interview O’Dowd talks about what might have been in a political career he abandoned in favour of acting, as well as raising money for fake endangered species.
The Roscommon star was on fine form and had both Colbert and the audience in stitches.
Take a look at the video below.
Here is a young Chris O’Dowd playing in Goal for Roscommon’s under 18s
Written by Michael Kehoe @michaelcalling