The Roscommon Senior Footballers recorded their fourth win in a row with a 1-19 to 0-17 victory over Donegal in Letterkenny. In doing so they have retained their place in Division One for next year and know that another point will guarantee them a place in the Allianz League Semi-Finals.
Roscommon made the brighter start to the game and led Donegal by 7 points to 1 after eighteen minutes; Ciaráin Murtagh, Niall Daly, Cathal Cregg, Fintan Cregg and Conor Daly on the score sheet with a Paddy McBrearty free the only score converted by the home side. Donegal began to up their game in the second quarter however Roscommon continued to out play them and despite failing to convert three goal chances the visitors led by 0-11 to 0-6 at the break.
Points from Cathal Cregg and Fintan Cregg early in the second half increased Roscommon’s lead to seven however Donegal soon began to get a grip. The sides traded points with Paddy McBrearty proving to be a constant thorn in Roscommon’s side and he reduced the gap to two points; 0-15 to 0-13. In the 23rd minute Cathal Cregg, who cut through Donegal numerous times with his direct runs, left two Donegal defenders in his wake and sent the ball to the right of the Keeper to put Roscommon in the driving seat again and that is where they stayed. Fintan Cregg (x2) and Conor Devaney cancelled out points from Paddy McBrearty (x2) and Ryan McHugh and with two minutes of normal time remaining Enda Smith score his only point of the day and Roscommon’s 100th point of the Allianz League campaign. Michael Murphy added a final point but it was not enough and with 73 minutes play Michael Murphy blasted a Donegal free low and hard towards the Roscommon goal and a combination of Neil Collins, Niall McInerney and the Crossbar managed to keep the ball out of the net before Collins cleared it to the wing and Roscommon hung on.
Team and scorers
Geoffrey Claffey;
Sean McDermott,
Neil Collins,
Niall McInerney;
Conor Daly (0-1),
Sean Purcell,
David Murray;
Niall Daly (0-03);
Fintan Cregg (0-5,3f),
Ronan Stack,
Ciaran Murtagh (0-6,5f),
Conor Devaney (0-1);
Cian Connolly,
Senan Kilbride,
Cathal Cregg (1-2).
Subs used: Niall Kilroy for C Daly 37 Mins (BC); Enda Smith (0-1) for C Connolly 51 Mins;
Cathal Compton for N Daly 55 Mins; John McManus for R Stack 65 Mins
Roscommon sit second in the Table and face seventh place Mayo in the next Round on Easter Sunday in Dr. Hyde Park.