Roscommon win Ladies' final

Roscommon 1-12 Wicklow 1-8

Emer Casey was in superb form as Roscommon withstood a strong second-half display by Wicklow to claim the Bord Gáis Ladies NFL Division 3 title at Kiltoom today.

On home soil, Roscommon settled quickest and led by 1-2 to 0-0 after just seven and a half minutes, with Casey instrumental in ensuring her side got off to a positive start.

Rachel Ryan got the hosts off to a positive footing with her third minute point before Casey quickly added 1-1 for the Rossies with Tara Taylor providing the vital pass for Roscommon's top-scorer to slot home her sides only goal of the contest.

Wicklow midfielder and Player of the Match Caoilfhionn Deeney done her utmost to keep the Garden County in touch along with full-forward Niamh Carroll - both of whom scored two points each in the opening half.

However, Roscommon were on a more solid footing at this stage and thanks to good work by Casey, Caroline Conway, Martina Freyne and Claire Grehan they held a 1-6 to 0-4 lead at the break.

But Wicklow were a far livelier team on the restart with Roscommon placed on the backfoot for the opening ten minutes of the second half.

Roscommon goalkeeper Carol Manning was forced to pull off a fine save from an early Wicklow goal chance before Niamh Carroll slotted over a free to cut the deficit to four points.

Carroll and Deeney were a constant thorn for Roscommon throughout this game and following a speculative shot Deeney sent a dipping shot to the back of the net to cut the gap to the minimum at 1-7 to 1-6 with 14 minutes remaining.

Scores were at a premium over the next four minutes, before Roscommon were awarded a penalty which Casey blasted over the crossbar to opened up a two point gap.

Roscommon were resilient in the final 10 minutes, as Wicklow failed to cope with their greater resolve with full-forward Martina Frayne sealing a four-point win for the hosts right on the hooter with her sides third point in the final five minutes, with Wicklow held scoreless during this spell.

Roscommon scorers: E Casey (3f, 1 pen) 1-5; C Grehan & M Freyne (1f) 0-2 each; C Conway, T Taylor & R Ryan 0-1 each

Wicklow scorers: C Deeney (2f) 1-2; N Carroll (3f) 0-5; S Boland 0-1

ROSCOMMON: C Manning; F Beirne, L Tully (Capt), M Keenehan; M Carey, S Cooney, C Kelly; M Candon, C Conway; C Grehan, T Taylor, AM Carley; E Casey, M Freyne, R Ryan.

SUBS: C McHugh for Carley (37), L McNulty for Carey (46), A McCormack for Ryan (49), S Kenny for Casey (58), S Ryan for Conway (60 +1).

WICKLOW: E Miley; L Fusciardi, A O'hAnnaidh, A Heffernan; L Brady, C McKeon (c), N Kelly; C Byrne, C Deeney; A Byrne, J Fitzmaurice, M Shelley; L Ahern, N Carroll, M Lynch.

SUBS: C Shortt for Fitzmaurice (20); E Lenihan for Brady (HT); S Boland for Byrne (43).

Referee: MJ O'Keeffe (Cork).