Roscommon corner-forward, John Price, was named man of the match after a superb performance in the Electric Ireland Connacht Minor Football Championship Final.
Electric Ireland Connacht MFC Final
ROSCOMMON 2-14 (2-2-10) MAYO 1-15 (1-1-13)
By Kevin Egan at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park
An incredible year for provincial football finals out west continued tonight in Castlebar where Roscommon picked up the Tom Kilcoyne Cup and were crowned the Electric Ireland Connacht Minor champions for the first time in five years.
It was a thrilling rollercoaster of a fixture where Mayo set the contest alight in the first minute with clinical Tony Carey goal, the first of five excellent scores from play from the Ardagh corner-forward.
Roscommon were slow enough to start, scoring just two points in the opening 20 minutes, but they had a star of their own in a number 13 jersey, and John Price, the eventual Man of the Match, put them back on level terms when he fielded a long ball and squeezed his shot past Thomas Williams, despite an excellent attempt to save from the Westport custodian.
The two sides traded long-range frees before Roscommon produced a scintillating burst of scores to lead by 1-7 to 1-4 at the interval. Price was the star of the show up front, with Diarmuid O’Higgins, Tadhg Rogers and Alex Oates helping to establish the away side’s dominance in their own half of the field.
The third quarter saw Mayo take over, and they did this despite suffering the hammer blow of losing both starting midfielders to injury in the minutes either side of the half-time break. Conor Hession dropped out from the full forward line to carry the load in the middle and with Tony Cary running riot inside, they outscored Roscommon by 0-8 to 0-1 up to the 45 minute mark.
Another John Price point and a neat finish from an incredibly tight angle from substitute Seamie Carthy got Roscommon back in the game, and they drew level to set up a grandstand finish in the 56th minute through Dean Casey’s second long-range free.
Two players who had been key contributors to Roscommon’s unbeaten run so far this year, but who were much quieter tonight in more defensive roles than usual, came up trumps to deliver the killer blow a minute later.
Mayo found Rhys Neary with a kickout but incredible pressure forced the Breaffy man to turn back towards his own goal, and a couple of handpasses later, Sam Hannon smelled blood. He timed his run perfectly to intercept a handpass and then put Dara Curran away. The team captain still had plenty of work to do but he kept his composure as goalkeeper and a defender converged on him, squeezing his shot into the net for the game-winning score.
Mayo dug deep and came up with excellent points from Dara Flanagan and Neary in reply, but their last attack ended in a clash of bodies in the full forward line. Referee Ronan Hynes saw no foul, Conor Tighe made 70 metres carrying the ball out of defence, and after Dean Casey was fouled, the attacker – one of several Roscommon players who attend school across the county border in Ballaghaderreen – duly iced the game, bringing his own tally to 0-7 in the process.
Scorers for Roscommon: Dean Casey 0-7 (0-2f, 2tpf), John Price 1-3, Dara Curran 1-0, Luke Shally 0-1, Adam Killian 0-1, Christopher Feerick 0-1, Seamie Carthy 0-1.
Scorers for Mayo: Tony Carey 1-4, Conor Hession 0-5 (1tpf, 0-2f), Ben Holmes 0-2 (0-1f), Dara Flanagan 0-2, Fiachra Ó Cinnseala 0-1, Rhys Neary 0-1.
ROSCOMMON: Cian Trimble; Colm Fitzgerald, Diarmuid O’Higgins, James Cassidy; Tadhg Rogers, Conor Tighe, Sam Hannon; Shay McGuinness, Alex Oates; Adam Killian, Dara Curran, Christopher Feerick; John Price, Dean Casey, Luke Shally. Subs: Seamie Carthy for Oates (37), Marc Shally for L Shally (41), Seamus Hussey for Killian (44), Tadhg Fallon for Fitzgerald (47), Conor Kelly for Feerick (57).
MAYO: Thomas Williams; Conor Coghill, Barry Langan, Cahair Tighe; Ryan O’Donnell, Declan Duffy, Dara Flanagan; Adam Kelly, Cian May; Patrick Garvey, Ben Holmes, Conor Jordan; Tony Carey, Conor Hession, Oran Murphy. Subs: Ben Joyce for May (29), Rhys Neary for Garvey (half-time), Fionn Ó Cinnseala for Kelly (34), Fiachra Ó Cinnseala for Murphy (49), Peter Quinn for Holmes (60).
Referee: Ronan Hynes (Sligo)
