Shane Curran's Roscommon career ended abruptly in 2006 when John Maughan was appointed manager.
The previous years had gone well for the goalkeeper under the management of Tommy Carr, who had made him captain. However, when Carr got the boot, soon also did Curran.
"For some reason, people weren't happy with Tommy," says Curran in the latest episode of TG4's Laochra Gael, which charts his Gaelic football career.
"I could never figure it out. I knew myself from inside that he was doing a brilliant job.
"He was removed as manager with two or three games to go in the league and we never recovered momentum after that.
"2005 peters out with a defeat to Louth, and that was the end of that season. We weren't to know it, but it was the end of numerous inter-county careers."
Curran only discovered that he had been dropped from the panel when his wife showed him the local paper.
"I remember vividly Sharon coming in with the Roscommon Champion as it was at the time [and it said] 'The Famous Five have been dropped by new Roscommon manager'," says Curran.
"What was put out to the general populace was there were five troublemakers being let go. The county board never corrected the record, which is wrong."
"He just grabbed me head and stuck his lips on mine"@shanetcurran ar #laochragael amárach 9:30pm @RoscommonGAA @StBrigidsRos @nemetontv @GAABEO6 @SportTG4 pic.twitter.com/ENBOcOJPor
— Laochra Gael (@Laochra_Gael) January 27, 2021
Maughan quit as Roscommon manager in 2008 after a series of poor results in the National League which angered supporters.
"It definitely set Roscommon back a number of years," says Rossie legend Frankie Dolan in the Laochra Gael episode regarding the dropping of Curran.
"To me, it was a crazy decision, and it backfired on John Maughan in the end when he was more or less ran out of the county."
Shane Curran's episode of Laochra Gael airs at 9:30pm, Thursday, January 28th on TG4.
Picture credit; Pat Murphy / SPORTSFILE
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