Roscommon pull away from Sligo to go top of Group 3 on points difference

Sligo s Sean Carrabine and Eoin McCormack of Roscommon compete.

Sligo 1-11

John Fallon reports from Dr Hyde Park

ENDA SMITH LED the way as Roscommon secured victory which sets them up for a key Sam Maguire clash with Kildare in the final round of games in the pool.

Manager Davy Burke will be up against his native county and if they can produce the quality they showed in the second half here, they will fancy their chances of advancing further.

Sligo face a third-round clash against Dublin, and while they will take a lot of heart from this display, the difference in class was apparent at crucial stages in a game which only came to life after the restart.

Sligo opted to play with the breeze in the opening half but failed to score from play until eight minutes from the break and turned around trailing by 0-8 to 0-6 at the end of an opening half where both sides were wasteful.

Sligo kicked ten wides in that opening half and Roscommon were almost as guilty with nine as neither of them mastered the tricky breeze.

Both sides tried to play a lot of possession football and the crowd of 5,773 had little to get excited about in the opening half of the contest.

Enda Smith and Diarmuid Murtagh posed the biggest threat for Roscommon and looked dangerous when they moved the battle with pace into attack, with Ben O’Carroll looking sharp at full-forward.

Murtagh kicked three frees in the opening exchanges, two of them frees, and it took a good save from Aidan Devaney to deny him a goal after ten minutes.

Niall Murphy and Sean Carrabine got Sligo off the mark with a couple of frees but Roscommon led by 0-4 to 0-2 at the end of the opening quarter after Cian McKeon and Enda Smith added to a brace from Murtagh.

Smith, Murtagh and O’Carroll pushed that lead out to 0-7 to 0-3 after 25 minutes before Carrbine finally got Sligo’s first point from play, quickly followed by a brace from Alan Reilly after debutant Colin Walsh had hit the target for Roscommon.

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The quality of the contest improved immeasurably after the restart, helped in turn by much sharper shooting from both sides.

Both hit three points in the opening nine minutes, leaving Roscommon 0-11 to 0-9 ahead before they struck for three in a row from McKeon, Ciaráin Murtagh and Conor Daly to go five clear and set for an easy win.

But then Carrabine and Mark Walsh combined to set up Reilly and he blasted to the net from 13 metres to cut the gap to 0-14 to 1-9 after 49 minutes.

The Roscommon response was good with Diarmuid Murtagh and Enda Smith getting points before Richard Hughes set up Dylan Ruane and his shot, hit as he was being tackled, bounced through to the net to make it 1-16 to 1-9 after 63 minutes and they pushed on from there to record a ten-point win as they picked off some good points in the closing stages which could yet prove important in the pool.

Scorers for Roscommon: Diarmuid Murtagh 0-6 (0-4f), Enda Smith 0-5, Dylan Ruane 1-1, Cian McKeon 0-3, Donie Smith 0-2, Ciaráin Murtagh 0-2 (0-1f), Ben O’Carroll 0-1, Colin Walsh 0-1.

Scorers for Sligo: Alan Reilly 1-3, Niall Murphy 0-4 (0-3f), Sean Carrabine 0-3 (0-1f), Nathan Mullen 0-1.

Roscommon

1. Conor Carroll (Oranmore/Maree)

17. Colin Walsh (Oran), 3. Brian Stack (St Brigid’s), 4. David Murray (Padraig Pearses)

5. Niall Daly (Padraig Pearses), 8. Dylan Ruane (Michael Glaveys), 9. Eddie Nolan (St Brigid’s)

11. Enda Smith (Boyle), 10. Ciaráin Murtagh (St Faithleach’s)

6. Eoin McCormack (St Dominic’s), 12. Ciarán Lennon (Clann nan Gael), 7. Conor Daly (Padraig Pearses)

13. Cian McKeon (Boyle), 14. Ben O’Carroll (St Brigid’s), 15. Diarmuid Murtagh (St Faithleach’s)

Substitutes:

18. Niall Kilroy (Fuerty) for C Daly (46)
• 23. Donie Smith (Boyle) for Lennon (48)
• 19. Richard Hughes (Roscommon Gaels)
• 2. Conor Hussey (Michael Glaveys) for N Daly (64)
• 21. Conor Cox (Éire Óg) for Ruane (66)

Sligo

1 Aidan Devaney (Calry St Joseph’s)

2. Evan Lyons (Shamrock Gaels), 3. Eddie McGuinness (Tubbercurry), 4. Nathan Mullen (Coolaney Mullinabreena)

5. Paul McNamara (St John’s), 6. Brian Cox (Calry St Joseph’s), 7. Luke Towey (Naomh Molaise Gaels)

8. Cian Lally (Drumcliffe Rosses Point), 9. Paul Kilcoyne (St Mary’s)

10. Finnian Cawley (St Farnan’s), 11. Sean Carrabine (Castleconnor), 17. Alan Reilly (Curry)

24. Luke Nicholson (St Mary’s), 14. Paddy O’Connor (St Farnan’s), 15. Niall Murphy (Coolera Strandhill)

Substitutes:

13. Pat Spillane (St Jude’s) for F Cawley (half-time)
• 25. Mark Walsh (Owenmore Gaels) for Nicholson (half-time)
• 26. Mikey Gordon (Easkey) for O’Connor (57)
• 12. Keelan Cawley (Coolera Strandhill) for Towey (66)
• 18. David Quinn (Shamrock Gaels) for Carrabine (69)
• 21. Jack Lavin (Ballymote) for Mullen (73)

Referee: Conor Lane (Cork).

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