London and Armagh advance

London and Armagh advanced to the Nicky Rackard Cup final next Saturday, following wins over Roscommon and Sligo respectively this afternoon.

At Parnell Park, Martin Finn pulled victory out of the fire for London who claimed a slender 1-15 to 1-14 triumph over Roscommon.

Finn bagged 1-4 without reply in the closing minutes, including a penalty goal, to overturn a five-point deficit and send the Exiles to a Croke Park decider.

Despite London's brilliance late on, it was Roscommon who dominated for long stages of this game. They led by 1-8 to 0-5 at the interval thanks to Johnny Coyne's 15th-minute goal.

Coyne's strike pushed Roscommon 1-4 to 0-3 clear, with Mervyn Connaughton, Michael Kelly and John Moran adding points.

Finn tried to bring London back into contention, but Roscommon stood firm and they blocked Finn out in the 33rd minute when a goal looked on.

Roscommon went seven points clear on the restart, thanks to a David Dolan score, but London matched their opponents well. They cut the gap to four points thanks to good scores from Finn and Mark Mythen.

Finn and Kevin Connelly traded points as Roscommon led by 1-14 to 0-11 late on, but London showed great hunger and utilised talented forward Finn to the maximum, leaving the Rossies heartbroken at the final whistle.

London will face Armagh in the final after the Orchard County side beat Sligo by 5-18 to 1-19 in a high-scoring encounter at Kingspan Breffni Park.

Goals were crucial in this win as Armagh booked their place in their first final since 2007. Team captain Paul McCormack led by example with a hat-trick, with Ger Enright and Paul Breen also hit the back of the Sligo net.

Sligo gave it their all but found it hard to cope with a strong attacking display from their opponents, with free-taker Colin Herity (1-10) leading the charge.