Round-up: Saturday's Allianz Hurling League D2, D3, and D4 action

Allianz Hurling League

Division Two

London 3-7 Derry 0-14

Meath 0-20 Mayo 1-12

Division Three

Roscommon 1-16 Tyrone 0-19

Division Four

Longford 3-18 Lancashire 0-12

Leitrim 0-20 Cavan 0-17

Meath are still right there in the promotion mix while London took a huge step towards survival after two games were played in Division Two of the Allianz Hurling League on Saturday, both ending up in away wins.

The wind played a key role at Adrian Freeman Park in Tooreen where Meath had the aid of the elements in the opening half and peppered the Mayo goal to lead by 0-16 to 0-3, with 12 wides into the mix.

Mark Leavy (0-4), Tom Shine (0-8) and Mikey Cole (0-3) led the scoring for the Royal County, but three quickfire points after the restart from Cormac Phillips (two) and Eoin Delaney suggested that Mayo might make a close contest of it.

Two points in the next 15 minutes slowed their momentum as Daire Shine and Seán Geraghty led a strong defensive effort and by the time Mayo got their goal through a Seán Kenny penalty, injury time was about to start and they didn’t have enough time to try and push on.

At the foot of the table, London’s 3-7 to 0-14 win over Derry at Find Insurance Celtic Park was a vital win that takes the Exiles out of the bottom two and leaves their fate in their own hands with one game left, at home to Laois in three weeks’ time.

It’s possible that London won’t need anything from that game as Derry now have to pick up a win away to Westmeath next week in their final game, all while reflecting on a performance where they held London to just two second half frees, but were undone by their own tally of 15 wides.

Those misses include an early 20 metre free and a Tiernan Melaugh goal chance, while at the other end Fionn Ó Riain Broin gave London an early lead with a goal, followed up by two green flags in 60 seconds from Fionn Whelan and Jack Morrissey.

Derry hit the first four points of the second half to cut the gap to three (3-5 to 0-11) with 20 minutes to play, but they just couldn’t get a run going at any stage and ultimately the clock ran out on their chances.

Roscommon remain unbeaten in Division Three, but they left it late at King & Moffatt Dr. Hyde Park to salvage a share of the spoils against Tyrone, needing injury time points from Seán Canning, Cian Murray and Micheál Hussey to leave it 1-16 to 0-19 at the final whistle.

Tyrone had six different scorers as they played much of the better hurling in the opening half, only to trail by 1-8 to 0-10 at the turnaround thanks to a goal from Rossie centre forward Cian Bowes.

Michael Little and Niall McGarel took on much more of the scoring load after the interval as Tyrone held Roscommon to just four points in 30 minutes of hurling.

Goalkeeper Enda Lawless who made three wonderful saves to deny the Red Hand County and those saves proved all the more important when Roscommon delivered their late finish to keep their promotion push going.

The big game in Division Four was the derby at Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada where Leitrim made it three wins a row by edging out Cavan, 0-20 to 0-17.

Leitrim made the faster start with the diagonal breeze at their backs, pucking five of the first six points, including an excellent strike from Daniel Miller.

Cavan settled well to trail by just three at the break, 0-10 to 0-7, though they were entirely dependent on Mark Moffett for scores. In the second half Jack Barry (0-3) and Thomas Leonard (0-2) joined Moffett on the score but a red card for Matthew Hynes made their task that bit harder and Leitrim always had at least a goal to spare after they answer Barry’s opening score with a reply from Miller.

It was much more straightforward in Abbotstown where Longford always had that little bit more quality than Lancashire, extending their strong start to the season to four consecutive wins.

Two Reuben Murray frees and a Killian Courtney goal set the tone with Cathal Mullane and Seán Tiernan adding second half green flags for the Leinster county.