Stalemate in Connacht as Dolan rues missed chance

Roscommon 1-10 Sligo 0-13

Roscommon and Sligo must meet again next Saturday night in the Connacht SFC after top scoring forward Frankie Dolan failed to win the match with a last ditch kick, in a 1-10 to 0-13 stalemate at Hyde Park.

Dolan, who contributed 0-06, screwed a pointable free wide in the final seconds of a tit-for-tat battle, with the winner due to face Leitrim in the Connacht semi-final.

However credit must be due to Sligo who kept their hosts to just two points in the second half and saw ace midfielder Sean Davey crown a strong display with the levelling point in the final minute.

The 15,000-plus attendance were treated to a frenetic start as Michael McNamara pointed after 11 seconds and then Dolan swept over two frees for a Ros lead after 3 minutes.

With the visitors' half backs turned, Gary Cox fed Karl Mannion in the eighth minute to turn and shoot well beyond Philip Greene's outstretched arm for a well-taken goal.

Dolan cancelled out Sligo corner forward Gerry McGowan's first point with two more of his own, and a neat lob by midfielder Seamus O'Neill had Roscommon 1-05 to 0-02 in front by the quarter hour.

The redeployment of Eamon O'Hara, named at half forward, into centre field saw Sligo regain a stranglehold on possession and an upping in the game's physicality with O'Hara and Brendan Philips both yellow carded before the interval.

McGowan's second added to Mark Brehony's 27th minute effort and a brace of Dessie Sloyan placed balls saw Sligo 0-06 to 1-08 down at half time, with Dolan (0-05), Mannion and Nigel Dineen rounding out the home tally.

A fluid opening to the second half ensued with McGowan and Sloyan pointing in the first five minutes before Mannion and Dolan struck on 42 and 44 minutes. Indeed Dolan's left wing score was to be the final white flag of their afternoon as the remaining 26 minutes saw them sail wide after wide past Greene.

The Sligo 'keeper had to be alert to stop at the feet of Mannion seconds after but points from Davey, Sloyan and Brehony saw the Yeats men two points down by the 51st minute.

Six minutes later a third Sloyan free cut it down to a single point, but with Dineen and Sligo's Noel McGuire receiving the fourth and fifth yellow cards of the game in the final minutes, a draw looked a fair result with neither reaching the heights before or after Davey's equaliser.

Afterwards Roscommon boss Tommy Carr said that "Sligo were far more economical especially in the second half. We hit 14/15 wides whereas they were nowhere near that total."

Carr will hope to have half back David Casey back for the replay after he was forced off with a head injury on 25 minutes.

Scorers: Roscommon: F Dolan 0-06, K Mannion 1-02, S O'Neill, N Dineen 0-01 each

Sligo: D Sloyan 0-05, G McGowan 0-03, S Davey 0-02, M Brehony 0-02, M McNamara 0-01

Roscommon: S Curran; J Nolan, M Ryan, J Whyte; D Casey, F Grehan, J Rogers; S O'Neill, S Lohan; Derek Connellan, N Dineen, G Cox; G Heneghan, K Mannion, F Dolan.

Subs: P Noone for Casey (25 mins), J Tiernan for Connellan (49 mins), J Egan for Heneghan (60 mins), B Higgins for Lohan (64 mins)

Sligo: P Greene; N Maguire, P Naughton, B Phillips; J Merton, M Langan, P Gallagher; S Davey, G Maye; K Quinn, M Brehony, E O'Hara; D Sloyan, M McNamara, G McGowan.

Subs: P Doohan for Gallagher (31 mins), B Curran for Quinn (47 mins), J Davey for McGowan (71 mins)

Ref: J McQuillan (Cavan)