Down and Roscommon win promotion

Down and Roscommon will play in Division 1 of the Allianz Football League next year after beating Laois and Westmeath respectively.

The Mournemen withstood a late rally from Laois to prevail by 3-12 to 1-15. Laois led by two points early on but a goal from Conor Laverty after 12 minutes got Down’s noses in front.

Laois rallied with points from Darren Strong, Ross Munnelly, Evan O’Carroll and John O’Loughlin to wrest back the advantage but a Paul Devlin goal ensured that Down led by 2-7 to 0-8 at the break.

The midlanders remained in contention in the second half as the teams exchanged scores but the deciding moment arrived mid-way through that period, when Arthur McConville bagged a third goal for Jim McCorry’s crew.

A Gerard Collins point made it an eight-point game but Laois kept plugging away. Munnelly found the Down net from the penalty spot to leave just three points between them but time ran out on Tomás Ó Flatharta’s men.

Nonetheless, they will be operating in Division 2 next year thanks to the failure of Westmeath and Kildare to win.

The Lakesiders fell to a 2-13 to 0-12 defeat to Roscommon at Cusack Park. It was only 0-6 to 0-5 at half time but three members of the team that won the Connacht U21 championship yesterday had a huge impact after the resumption to seal their top-tier status.

Diarmuid Murtagh had four points in the latter period, while Ultan Harney and Enda Smith also pointed as Roscommon pulled clear.

Goals from Conor Daly and Senan Kilbride were undoubtedly vital too and it was fitting reward for a dominant Kilbride in particular. Westmeath kept plugging away but were too reliant on John Heslin (0-7, 6fs).

There was a bittersweet 0-14 to 0-12 victory for Meath over Cavan at Páirc Tailteann, as it was insufficient to earn promotion. Cavan had been targeting a place in Division 1 too but five consecutive points in the last 11 minutes turned the tie in the Royals’ favour.

Mick O’Dowd’s men led by 0-6 to 0-5 at the interval thanks to a brace of Shane O’Rourke points but Cavan took over in the second half to make what seemed a significant move. Gearoid McKiernan, Dara McVeety, Niall Murray and a brilliantly-converted free from out wide by Martin Reilly pushed them three clear.

They will be ruing Martin Dunne’s missed goal chance however, and Meath finished strongly. Michael Newman landed a brace of points before substitute Bryan Menton ended an excellent move to equalise.

Meath had all the momentum now and points from Stephen Bray and influential substitute Eamonn Wallace earned the victory.