Rossies to meet Mayo in Connacht semi-final

Roscommon 1-18 Leitrim 0-9

Roscommon advanced to a Connacht semi-final meeting with Mayo with a facile victory over neighbours Leitrim at Hyde Park.

Roscommon laid the foundation for victory in the opening half when they had the wind at their backs and they led by 1-12 to 0-5 at the interval.

They led from the start and opened up a 0-4 to 0-1 lead after five minutes with Senan Kilbride and Ciaran Murtagh superb for the home side.

All of Leitrim’s points in the opening half came from frees with Emlyn Mulligan getting three and Conor Beirne adding a brace.

But Roscommon always looked threatening and they struck a telling blow just before the break whn Ronan Stack fisted home a goal.

Leitrim, who lost midfielder Darren Sweeney to a yellow card after 29 minutes, rallied after the restart with the superb Mulligan leading the way.

They enjoyed their best spell when Mulligan pointed and then Kevin Conlon hit two long range frees to reduce the margin 1o 1-13 to 0-9 after 46 minutes.

But Leitrim never looked like getting the goal they needed to get back in the game.

Roscommon manager John Evans brought on several of his successful U-21 side in the second-half and points from Niall Daly and Donie Shine extended their lead.

Mulligan inspired another revival by Leitrim with three points in succession to leave five points between them with eight minutes left.

Roscommon wrapped up the issue with two points from Diarmuid Murtagh and one from sub Craig Burns to advance to a semi-final showdown with Mayo in three weeks at Hyde Park.

Scorers

Roscommon: R Stack 1-0, K Higgins and S Kilbride 0-3 each; D Shine 0-2 (0-1f), D Murtagh 0-2 (0-1f), N Daly and C Murtagh 0-2 each; C Cafferkey, C Shine, C Cregg and C Burns 0-1 each.

Leitrim: E Mulligan 0-8 (0-6f); C Beirne 0-2 (0-2f); Kevin Conlon 0-1 (0-1f), W McKeon and G Reynolds 0-1 each.

Roscommon:

D O’Malley; N Carty, N Collins, S McDermott; N Daly, D Keenan, C Cafferkey (M Nally 50mins); C Shine (E Smith 42), K Higgins; D O’Gara (C Burns 69), D Shine, R Stack (D Donnelly 69); S Kilbride (D Murtagh 54), C Cregg (F Cregg 62), C Murtagh.

Leitrim:

C McCrann; B McWeeney, P Brennan (R Cox 62mins), P Maguire; G Reynolds, D Wrynn, B Prior; D Sweeney (G Hickey 29), D Moran; W McKeon, E Mulligan, M McWeeney (R Lowe 25); J Glancy (B McWeeney 47), C Beirne (A McLoughlin 54), K Conlon.

Referee: Conor Lane (Cork)

(By John Fallon)