HOW I MIST THIS

Veteran Kilbride weathering well in Connacht

- BY GARRY DOYLE

THE drizzle at Dr Hyde Park comes down in a mist so fine it feels like breath.

It hung in the air on Sunday afternoon, soft and familiar, the kind of weather that doesn't stop anything in Roscommon because it’s part of everything.

And there, in the middle of it, stands Senan Kilbride - 40 years of age, boots soaked, jersey clinging, yet smiling the smile of someone who has somehow found his way back to a place he didn't expect to see again.

You can hear it in his voice. Relief. Disbelief. Joy.

A man who has spent five years under desert sun now blinking in the Roscommon rain, wondering how in God’s name he ended up here again, holding a fifth Connacht medal he never thought he'd touch.

"It felt like robbery in 2006," he said, referring to the first Connacht title that he and his club St Brigid’s won, when a stoppage time goal from Karol Mannion sent them to a one-point victory over Corofin. "And again today, I don't know how we won that game against Moycullen."