
Roscommon's Donie Smith retires from intercounty football
forward Donie Smith has announced his intercounty retirement.
Smith, who won two Connacht senior football titles, made his Roscommon debut in 2012 and brings the curtain down on his career after 133 appearances in the primrose and blue.
The Boyle man captained Roscommon in 2022 and scored an impressive 8-273 over the course of his intercounty career.
'On behalf of everyone in Roscommon GAA, I want to thank Donie for his dedication and commitment to the Roscommon jersey over the past 13 years,' said Roscommon GAA chairman Brian Carroll.
READ MORE
'He always wore the primrose and blue with great honesty and pride. We wish Donie, Laura, and Sadie all the very best for the future and a long, happy, and healthy life.'
Smith also won four National League Division Two titles (2015, 2018, 2020, 2022) and one Division Three crown (2014).
However, the highlights of his Roscommon days were the 2017 and 2019 Connacht final victories. He scored 0-2 when introduced off the bench as Roscommon beat Galway in 2017.
Smith's last appearance for Roscommon was in their round-three group game in the All-Ireland series in June – a defeat to Cork at O'Moore Park, during which he scored a point.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Physicality key in making step up to PIHC ranks, insists Lisgoold's Liam O'Shea
Lisgoold and Imokilly hurler Liam O'Shea enjoyed a fruitful 2024, and he'll be dreaming of a 2025 full of similar success. The Intermediate A crown was secured for Lisgoold after a replay against Erin's Own, and O'Shea, along with John Cronin and Cork senior starlet Diarmuid 'Dudsy' Healy, were part of the Premier Senior county-winning Imokilly side. "It was great for me and great for the club, we also had Johnsy (Cronin) and Duds (Healy) as well, they played that day, they started. It was great for the club to win two counties in the one year, and especially for us," O'Shea said. That replay win over Erin's Own was a special one for O'Shea, who led the charge that November day, scoring 1-2. 'Dudsy' also played no small part, of course, earning the man of the match gong. Forward O'Shea told of their journey from the East Cork Junior A ranks to the Premier Intermediate level of Cork hurling. It hasn't been easy, highlighted by the difficulty of bouncing back from the drawn county final last year. "It was a tough week to recover for the next day, but we got there in the end," he said. "We were thrilled to get over the line. "We actually started Junior A, my first year up would have been 2017, and we lost to St Catherine's, who went on and won the county. We had a few years of heartbreak, but we finally got over the line in 2020. We won the East Cork and county that year and we've just been on a roll ever since." Having progressed from Division 4, it was a league campaign spent solidifying their place in Division 3, no bad preparation for the test that awaits them in the PIFC, where a group consisting of Valley Rovers, Mallow and neighbours Dungourney. "There was a lot of senior teams in it (Division 3)," he said. "They were good, tough games and we finished mid-table. Our first year up, we learned a lot off them now, they were so physical and that's what championship is going to be all about now this year, the physicality and how hard we work." First up is for Lisgoold - under the stewardship of proven coach Niall O'Halloran - is Valley Rovers, followed by Mallow and Dungourney. "I'd say we'll back ourselves (against Valleys), they're a big side so we'll have to bring our physicality and we know what we can do and we know what they can do... Dungourney would be our very close neighbours, so that'll be a great game, an East Cork derby. We went to school with a lot of those boys, played Harty together." "We'd have very good friends down there, we were actually with them at the All-Ireland, so there was good craic around the bunch of lads we were with. "We've actually never played them in club before, so it'll be a strange one," added O'Shea. Friendships will be parked, but for O'Shea and Lisgoold, it's full steam ahead for the 2025 edition of the PIHC.


Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
London game is Ireland's calling for World Cup bid
There are all sorts of metrics to track progress, and decline. Should Ireland find themselves playing in Twickenham come late September then the chart explaining the women's senior team form will be through the roof. It's 15 months since they turned up at the home of the RFU and conceded 14 tries and a combined 88 points against the hosts. Return to that leafy corner of the English capital in two months' time and it will mean they have reached a World Cup semi-final. That's progress at the speed of light, should it happen. It is the stated goal that Scott Bemand's players have set for themselves as they put almost two months of pre-season work to the first test this Saturday when they face Scotland in one of two tournament warm-ups. 'I haven't probably talked about it this much this week because the focus is Scotland,' said hooker Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald. 'We have openly spoken about it, probably in the previous two preparation blocks, about the group goal being getting to London. We know what we need to do at each stage but we're not overestimating. 'This week is about Scotland, next week will be about Canada. Then it's about selection and getting over there and then it's each game at a time. And the pool games are each going to be very challenging in their own way. So, yeah, there's an overall goal, but nobody is really too focused on that. Right now it's week-by-week at the moment.' The squad will be revealed on August 11, two days after that second trial run against the Canadians in Belfast. Ireland's tournament starts on the 24th against Japan at Northampton's Franklins' Gardens and continues there against Spain a week later. New Zealand's world champions, in Brighton's Amex Stadium, completes their pool. Moloney-MacDonald is the only member of the current training squad who has played at a World Cup before. The team didn't qualify in 2021 and she was 24 when Ireland hosted in Dublin and Belfast four years earlier but so much has changed since. Women's rugby has kicked on and Ireland are in a very different place now than then. The national team was still near the start of a downward spiral eight years ago. Now they are clearly on the up but with that direction challenged by the loss of big players to injury. The pack has been denuded for the World Cup by the loss of Erin King and Dorothy Wall while Aoife Wafer, the reigning Six Nations player of the year, is recovering from knee surgery and fighting to be ready. The team train in Blanchardstown. Picture: Ben Brady/Inpho Scrum coach Denis Fogarty said on Wednesday that the staff are 'quite confident' Wafer will make it, that she had not been 'ruled out'. She won't play either warm-up. The smart money is that the early pool stuff, at least, will play without her too. Others have to step up, but will they? 'You can only tell so much from training, so that's why this weekend is so important, and the Canada game, and it's important as well for them to grow in confidence,' said Moloney-MacDonald. 'Nobody knows how they're going to do, it's important that we put them in the best position possible to have the best experience and feel as confident as possible going into a World Cup. Yeah, I do feel confident.' It's been a long summer road just to this point. The prospect of a game will be manna from heaven for players who have been diverting themselves with competitions to see who benches most in the gym or with the odd game of foot-golf. Building the mind is every bit as key as preparing the body and the squad has had the honour of a visit from European Indoor 3000m champion Sarah Healy who is currently tracking towards her own World (Championship) bid come the autumn. 'Yeah, it was really interesting,' said Moloney-MacDonald. 'Obviously it's great to always get perspective from different sports people but also she's quite accomplished in speaking in the corporate world, I think. 'It was really good to just talk through maybe situations that might arise around selection and stuff like that and how she would approach those from a different mindset. 'In lots of ways around this time preparing for a World Cup, it's a kind of inexperienced group in that way. So it's good to talk about those things, and then you can have a kind of framework in your own head in place for how you'll deal with each scenario.'


Irish Independent
3 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Who are the leading candidates to manage the Kerry senior footballers in 2026?
With Jack O'Connor hinting that Sunday's All-Ireland final was his last game as Kerry manager, we look at the leading candidates to be in the hot-seat in 2026... Jack O'Connor – The rewards can outstrip the allure of retirement for now