Roscommon county board has responded to "inaccurate and untrue statements" made by Shane Curran about its new team bus.

The eye-catching coach, which is available to all county squads, was purchased after the Rsocommon supporters' group, Club Rossie, enticed six travel partners to sponsor the vehicle: BNP Paribas Real Estate, Ballymore Group, Dermot Hughes Toyota, Westward Scania Ireland, Seamus Carthy REA Auctioneers and O'Neill's sportswear.

But writing in his Westmeath Independent column last month, former county goalkeeper Curran claimed the decision to invest in the bus represented "an absolutely scurrilous waste of investors' money".

He added: "Here we are in Roscommon with no county training pitch, only one full-time coach in the county, and with young players crying out for employment - and the county board, along with a number of sponsors or investors, decide, in their wisdom, to pump a figure believed to be in the region of €250,000 into buying a bus!"

This week, Roscommon PRO Colm Beirne wrote a detailed letter to the Athlone-based newspaper in which he refuted the claims made by the St. Brigid's clubman. He clarified that the county board didn't spend €250,000 on the bus which is, in fact, leased.

The PRO also pointed out that the sponsors had opted to get involved with the bus project over other opportunities within Roscommon GAA "as it was an innovative concept and gave their business nationwide exposure, which could not be matched through traditional sponsorship or marketing opportunities."

Beirne also stressed that all monies raised by Club Rossie are controlled by the clubs in the county through their delegates at county board level after Curran had stated that he had opted not to join the supporters' group as he doesn't "believe that monies raised through this source are being invested in the right areas of Roscommon GAA". Tweet

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