O’Grady strikes late to sink Exiles

DESPITE running out convincing winners at Ruislip, Fergal O’Donnell believes his Roscommon side have more to offer.

He said: “We missed a few goal chances and I thought our touch was very bad. Maybe the team felt under a bit of pressure as there was a lot of negativity after last week’s result (against Longford).”

Roscommon hit a late flurry of scores in the first half to lead 0-7 to 0-4 at the interval.

London narrowed the gap to two after the restart as the Rossies continued to struggle in front of goal. But the hosts tired late on and Roscommon fired 1-2 in the final four minutes. Senan O’Grady netting an injury-time goal.

Scorers for Roscommon: S O’Grady 1-2; K Higgins 0-4; J Rogers (1f), G Heneghan 0-2 each; C Shine, C Cregg, D O’Gara, J Dunning 0-1 each.

Scorers for London: E O’Neill 0-3 (all frees); J Collins 0-2; P McGoldrick, S Kelly 0-1 each.

ROSCOMMON: M Miley; S McDermott, D Ward, S Ormsby; N Carty, D Keenan, S Purcell; M Finneran, K Higgins; S O’Grady, D O’Gara, C Cregg; J Rogers, C Shine, G Heneghan.

Subs: J McKeague for Purcell (4); J Dunning for Rogers (42); F Cregg for O’Gara (49); C Beirne for D Kennan (49); C Devanney for Shine (60).

LONDON: E Byrne; D Donnellan, S McVeigh, D McGreevy; N Tuohy, T Gaughan, A Savage; J Scanlon, C McCallion; C Conneely, J Collins, A Concannon; S Boyle, E O’Neill, L Gavaghan.

Sub: D O’Neill for Gaughan (26); K Phair for Gavaghan (ht); P McGoldrick for Scanlon (ht); S Kelly for Savage (42); D McCusker for McCallion.

Referee: Gary McCormack (Dublin)