Roscommon defeat dogged Leitrim

Leitrim 2-9 Roscommon 2-13

Roscommon overcame a stiff challenge from Mickey Moran’s Leitrim side to set up a Connacht SFC semi-final clash with Mayo on June 20.

First-half goals from Karol Mannion (penalty) and Senan Kilbride laid the foundations for Roscommon’s 12th win in 15 Championship meetings with Leitrim in Carrick-on-Shannon.

This was a very committed display from Leitrim however, who lined out without their top scorer in the league Emlyn Mulligan after his recent cruciate knee ligament injury.

Moran gave Championship debuts to four players and one of them, Colm Clarke, fired the hosts in front with a goal after just a minute and 15 seconds.

Midfielder Shane Canning secured possession for Leitrim, then Declan Maxwell, in his seventh Championship campaign, picked out the run of Clarke and the newcomer made a dream start, burying the ball past Roscommon goalkeeper Geoffrey Claffey.

After fixtures in New York and London, this was the first match of the 2009 Connacht Championship to be staged on home soil and Leitrim made it 1-1 to 0-1 when another debutant James Glancy pointed a free.

Full-forward Senan Kilbride had opened Roscommon’s account just before that, but Leitrim remained a goal clear as Donie Shine (free) and Tomas Beirne, another SFC first-timer, traded points.

The sunny and humid conditions made it difficult for both sides to maintain a high intensity of play, in a game watched by 13,857 spectators.

As the first half wore on, Roscommon began to take control. Gary Cox pointed to close the gap to two points before referee Derek Fahy awarded the visitors an 18th-minute penalty.

Mannion stepped up to tuck the ball away to the bottom left corner of the net and while Leitrim responded with points from Glancy and his fellow debutant Ray Cox, two impressive points from play from Shine maintained the Rossies’ lead.

They forged further ahead when Kilbride slotted the ball to the Leitrim net after being put through one-on-one with goalkeeper Noel Gill.

That strike left Leitrim 2-5 to 1-4 in arrears at half-time and Roscommon continued to look the better side on the resumption, with Leitrim kicking some poor wides.

However, three minutes into the second half, Leitrim's captain John McKeon slammed home an inspirational goal to get his charges right back into contention.

The full-back’s score made it a one-point game, but again the Rossies, managed this year by Fergal O’Donnell and with 12 of their All-Ireland-winning minors now in the senior ranks, were able to respond impressively.

They chalked up three points in quick succession through Seanie McDermott, Conor Devaney and Gary Cox.

Missing a forward of the sharpshooting quality of Mulligan, Leitrim were now struggling for scores. Ray Cox landed a morale-boosting point but in the next attack, he missed a relatively straightforward free.

Leitrim, roared on by the vocal home crowd, got the gap down to three points with efforts from Cox, Philip McGuinness and the classy Maxwell but Roscommon were just that bit better.

Fintan Cregg, Shine and Kevin Higgins boosted the visitors’ tally to 2-12 before the influential Shine landed his fifth point of the afternoon to close out the scoring and boost Roscommon’s hopes of winning their first Connacht SFC title since 2001.