Roscommon rally to earn draw in Connacht opener

SURVEYING THE FIELD: Roscommon midfielder Shane Walsh looks for options against Mayo.

Connacht Under-20 Football Championship: Mayo 3-7 Roscommon 1-13  

Roscommon battled back from seven points down to earn a draw in Wednesday evening’s thrilling Connacht Under-20 football championship first round clash at Dr Hyde Park.

Three goals in the first quarter had put Peadar Gardiner’s Mayo side in the driving seat, but the homeside battled back to earn a deserved share of the spoils.

Noel Dunning’s young Rossie outfit actually outscored their opponents by 0-12 to 0-5 in the final 50 minutes of the match and, in the end, a draw seemed a fair outcome.

Man of the match Shane McGinley, who finished with 1-8, landed the equalising score from a free in the 60th minute after Roscommon had dominated the second half.

Mayo had led at the end of a high-scoring first half by 3-3 to 1-6.

They had also got off to a flying start with a goal from Niall Hurley after only nine minutes, with points from Hurley and Darragh Beirne (free) topping up their advantage.

Roscommon opened their account after 12 minutes with a neat effort from the aforementioned Shane McGinley, and the corner-forward then grabbed a goal from close-range two minutes later.

The cheers had barely died down though when Mayo hit back with a brilliant goal from Finbarr McLaughlin in the 15th minute and Darragh Beirne then flicked in Mayo’s third goal of the evening two minutes later.

This left the visitors ahead by 3-2 to 1-1 at the end of the first quarter.

But Roscommon really got to work at that stage and five points in the second quarter from McGinley (3, two frees and a ‘45) and Bobby Nugent (2) had them right back in contention at the break.

The Rossies kept the pressure on after the restart but Mayo kept them at arm’s length thanks to a couple of well-taken points from substitute Oisin Cronin to lead by 3-7 to 1-9 after 45 minutes.

Remarkably though the pre-match favourites failed to score again and Roscommon finished strongly with four points in a row from Bobby Nugent (free), Ryan Conlon and the prolific Shane McGinley (two frees) to leave the teams deadlocked at the final whistle.

Both teams finished the match with 14 players after late black cards.

Mayo: D Dolan (0-1, ‘45); D Slattery, J MacMonagle, L Silke; J Mulchrone, P Gilmore, Y Coghill; D Duffy, C Dawson; F McLaughlin (1-0), C Keaveney, T O’Flaherty; D Beirne (1-2, 2fs), N Hurley (1-2), D Reilly.

Subs used: E McGreal for Coghill (33); O Cronin (0-2) for Reilly (35); T Lydon for McLaughlin (inj, 40); B Collins for Mulchrone (45); D O’Brien for Dawson (inj, 58).

Roscommon: S Allen; J Brady, D Casey, T Morris; J McGreal, S Lambe, E Carthy; C Ryan, S Walsh; D Hagney, D Flanagan, R Heneghan; S McGinley (1-8, 7fs, ‘45), B Nugent (0-3, 1f), R Hester.

Subs used: E Kerins for Flanagan (27); R Conlon (0-2) for Hagney (27); C Harley for Brady (HT); R Dowling for Hester (42); O O’Flaherty for Ryan (50).

Referee: J Gilmartin (Sligo)