Rossies into final with comfortable win over Leitrim

Leitrim 0-06 Roscommon 2-12

Reigning champions Roscommon had an impressive passage through to the Connacht SFC final as they comfortably accounted for Leitrim in Carrick-on-Shannon.

Donie Shine struck the game’s opening goal during a rain-soaked first half and Roscommon were never really troubled after that, building on a 1-07 to 0-02 interval lead.

Leitrim looked a shadow of the side that beat Sligo and although the margin was reduced to seven at one stage, the Rossies, with Michael Finneran standing out in midfield, finished well.

Conor Devaney swept home the second goal in the 66th minute to confirm his side’s place in July 17 decider against either Galway or Mayo.

The first half was full of honest, attack-driven football with Roscommon using a considerable wind to their advantage.

In wet conditions, the Rossies had four points from play on the board in a busy opening quarter-of-an-hour.

Shine shrugged off Dermot Reynolds to launch over the first point in the second minute, and Senan Kilbride added a brilliant second to show the type of firepower at the champions’ disposal.

Kilbride picked up possession on the left and turned swiftly on his left side before delivering a peach of a score.

Leitrim’s chief attacker Emlyn Mulligan dropped a free short of the posts, but made amends by clipping over from play after Roscommon lost the ball in defence.

Without truly dominating, Roscommon then managed to string together a succession of scores.

The run was started by arguably the point of the Championship to date – a monster effort from the right from Kilbride, who exposed some poor defending from Ronan Gallagher.

Midfielder Karol Mannion powered through the middle for Roscommon’s fourth point, however they let their quality of shooting slip as wide number five was quickly registered.

Leitrim missed a couple of kickable scores as they struggled to cope with the strong breeze, albeit with midfielders Tomás Beirne and Daniel Lowe winning a number of balls and setting up attacks.

In the 21st minute, Kevin Higgins played an inviting ball in for Shine to collect, with Dermot Reynolds close at hand, and the corner forward produced a rocket of a shot to beat goalkeeper Cathal McCrann.

McCrann managed to get a hand to the effort which nicked in off the post and despite an immediate response from Leitrim – Conor Beirne won and pointed a free – the Rossies kept picking up scores coming up to half-time.

Kilbride kicked his third point, this time from a tight-angled free, Cathal Cregg got off the mark and a turnover of possession teed up Senan O’Grady for a well-taken point and suddenly the advantage was out to eight.

Before that, on the half hour mark, McCrann came to Leitrim’s rescue. He kept the ball out from under his crossbar under pressure from Shine, who was trying to connect with a Higgins point attempt that dropped short.

Roscommon had a let-off of their own in first half injury-time – goalkeeper Geoffrey Claffey should have been tested by a close range shot but Adrian Croal miscued his attempt and the ball went harmlessly wide.

Leitrim’s task grew more difficult early in the second half. Busy midfielder Daniel Lowe had to be taken off and Higgins extended Roscommon’s lead to 1-08 to 0-02.

Net minder McCrann stood up well to save Kilbride’s goal-bound effort and he did even better to block a full-blooded shot from the advancing Higgins, just minutes later.

Darren Sweeney showed great persistence to block a point attempt from Higgins as Roscommon continued to dictate play, with Mannion and Finneran both pressing forward.

A sweetly-struck point from Kilbride rewarded O’Grady for a good set-up, however Leitrim cancelled it out with a much-needed score from Mulligan, who brilliantly bent his shot over from the right.

That was the hosts’ first score in 30 minutes’ play and they quickly tagged on another from Ronan Gallagher, who had been pushed into a more advanced role.

They had a third on the bounce when Conor Beirne floated over a free, cutting the gap back to 1-09 to 0-05 with just under 15 minutes remaining.

Devaney and Croal traded points, and Claffey and defender Niall Carty combined to keep out a certain goal from Leitrim substitute Brian McDonald.

Leitrim were guilty of coughing up possession around centre-field, allowing Roscommon to hit them on the break and Higgins, with a fisted effort, and Kilbride, from a right-sided free, tagged on further points.

The death knell was sounded for Mickey Moran’s men when Devaney rounded McCrann and rolled the ball in an empty net for a well-taken goal.

It was a well-crafted and ultimately comfortable win for Fergal O’Donnell’s side. They are now just 70 minutes away from securing their county’s first back-to-back Connacht title wins since 1990-1991.

LEITRIM: C McCrann; D Reynolds, R Gallagher (0-01), P Maguire; B Prior, G Reynolds, W McKeon; T Beirne, D Lowe; P Brennan, E Mulligan (0-02), R Lowe; A Croal (0-01), C Beirne (0-02, 0-02f), J Glancy.

Subs used: D Sweeney for D Lowe (37 mins), J McKeon for Brenna (43), B McDonald for T Beirne (47), C Clarke for R Lowe (62).

ROSCOMMON: G Claffey; S McDermott, P Domican, N Carty; S Ormsby, D Keenan, D Ward; M Finneran, K Mannion (0-01); S O'Grady (0-01), K Higgins (0-02), C Gregg (0-01); C Devaney (1-01), S Kilbride (0-05, 0-02f), D Shine (1-01).

Subs used: S Purcell for Ward (52 mins), E Kenny for Mannion (58), G Heneghan for Devaney (67), I Kilbride for S O'Grady (70).

Referee: Pat McEnaney (Monaghan)