Fresh from their enjoyable Jeff and Kammy's Road to Croker series, AIB have produced a second GAA documentary, this one entitled Behind The Gates. This has gone behind the scenes with the Roscommon football team, tracing the journey from a miserable league campaign (losing all games but their final match against Cavan) to redemption in Salthill with a vibrant, improbably Connacht football triumph.
Episode 1 has been released today, and is entitled Road to Redemption. It nods to a routine win over Leitrim before focusing on the preparation for the Connacht final with Galway. As part of the preparations, Kevin McStay cancelled a planned training schedule after a poor performance against Meath in a challenge game, instead asking players to stand before their teammates to explain why they play for Roscommon.
Enda Smith, who went on to be Man of the Match against Galway in the final, gave a powerful address as to his motivation behind playing for Roscommon: his brother, Cian.
Cian Smith was a member of the 2006 All-Ireland-winning Roscommon minor team, but had a hugely promising football career cut short a year later, when he was diagnosed with throat cancer.
Choking back tears, Enda Smith told his assembled teammates about Cian:
So, Cian is 28 at the moment, but he ended up getting cancer. So the reason I play is....90% of it is for him. He has an abundance of talent, and...[breaks down].
You can watch the entire episode below, with Smith's powerful words starting at 4.25:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PguuK33tllU
