Allianz Football League Division One

MAYO 1-8 ROSCOMMON 1-7

By Cian O'Connell at Elverys MacHale Park

On a wild and wet night in the west Mayo still mustered sufficient passion to carve out a victory over a defiant Roscommon outfit.

Despite the woeful weather 10,941 braved the elements to watch Mayo do just enough to claim the spoils against Roscommon, who were resilient throughout.

James Horan’s return as Mayo manager carries intrigue with League debutant Brian Reape’s 65th minute goal decorating a hard earned win.

With a furious wind and relentless rain spilling from the sky the match unsurprisingly turned into a significant battle.

The early evidence suggested that Roscommon were eager to meet that challenge, but a string of opportunities were squandered as the interval approached.

It meant that Roscommon’s half-time advantage was only 0-5 to 0-1 which meant the locals were fairly satisfied considering that they played into the teeth of a strong breeze.

Roscommon only converted 0-5 from 14 attempts in a physical first half as the visitors responded following the early concession of a point to an Evan Regan free.

Colin Compton, Shane Killoran, Cathal Cregg, and Donie Smith all mined fine points from play, but Roscommon’s failure to score between the 18th minute and the interval was a source of worry.

The roles were reversed after the restart when it was Mayo’s turn to miss chances as the green and red converted three from their first seven attempts when the action recommenced.

Diarmuid O’Connor and two splendid long range frees from Jason Doherty trimmed the gap to the narrowest of margins on the three quarter mark.

Suddenly Roscommon were under severe duress, but a neat pass from Enda Smith released Compton, who fisted a point terminating a 37 minute search for a score.

Within seconds, though, Donal Vaughan had reduced the margin once more and the issue remained delicately poised.

Paddy Durcan skipped forward to thump a trademark effort for Mayo to restore parity and Brendan Harrison edged Mayo back in front with 10 minutes left on the clock.

Roscommon continued to perspire, but a moment of inspiration from Reape proved decisive as the promising full forward slammed a goal to seal the deal.

In stoppage time Roscommon substitute Ultan Harney was sent off after picking up a second yellow card and while Killoran’s deflected shot ended up in the Mayo net Horan’s charges held on.

Scorers for Mayo: Brian Reape 1-0, Jason Doherty 0-3 (2fs), Diarmuid O’Connor, Donal Vaughan, Paddy Durcan, Brendan Harrison, Evan Regan (f) 0-1 each.

Scorers for Roscommon: Shane Killoran 1-1, Colin Compton 0-2, Ultan Harney, Cathal Cregg, Donie Smith, and Enda Smith (f) 0-1 each.

MAYO: Robert Hennelly; Eoin O'Donoghue, Brendan Harrison, Keith Higgins; Lee Keegan, Colm Boyle, Paddy Durcan; Diarmuid O'Connor, Donal Vaughan; Fergal Boland, Aidan O'Shea, Jason Doherty; Evan Regan, Brian Reape, Conor Diskin.

Subs: Andy Moran for Boland (HT), Stephen Coen for Vaughan (69), Fionn McDonagh for Diskin (70+1), James McCormack for Boyle (blood).

ROSCOMMON: Darren O’Malley; Evan McGrath, Conor Daly, Gary Patterson; Conor Hussey, Niall Daly, Ronan Daly; Tadhg O’Rourke, Enda Smith; Shane Killoran, Cathal Cregg, Niall Kilroy; Donie Smith, Ciaran Lennon, Colin Compton.

Subs: Ultan Harney for Lennon (HT), Hubert Darcy for Cregg (62), David Neary for Patterson (68), Caoilean Fitzmaurice for O’Rourke (68).

REFEREE: Barry Cassidy (Derry).