Diarmuid O Connor scored a penalty for Mayo
Roscommon will face Mayo in the Connacht U21 Football Championship final after both counties won their semi-finals on Saturday evening.
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Saturday, March 19
EIRGRID CONNACHT U21 FOOTBALL SEMI-FINAL: LEITRIM 0-15 MAYO 4-12
By Kevin Egan
Mayo will contest their first Connacht U21 final in seven years next month after their greater potency in front of goal ensured that they prevailed over Leitrim this afternoon by a deceptively large nine point margin at Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada.
Four times the visitors found the net while Leitrim failed to convert any of their green flag opportunities, while Michael Solan will also have been pleased with the strong performances that he got from his substitutes, who made a real impact on the contest.
Leitrim got off to a fantastic start here and struck the first three points of the contest, while they could have inflicted even more damage had Jack Heslin found the target after twice cutting in from the right corner and driving at goal along the end line.
Brian Reape broke Mayo’s duck after eight minutes and while the sides traded scores in an open, attacking encounter throughout the bulk of the half, two mistakes from the Leitrim side were sharply punished in the closing ten minutes.
In the first instance they failed to connect with a short kickout which led to Brian Reape palming the ball into the net, before a turnover in the middle third allowed Mayo to find Fionán Duffy with a high, diagonal delivery.
The Crossmolina corner forward was pulled down by Keelan McHugh and Diarmuid O’Connor made no mistake with the subsequent penalty. At 2-5 to 0-7 in arrears at half time Leitrim were still in the tie but they were burned off by Mayo after half time, with Duffy and Reape adding further goals.
Shairoze Akram’s hard running and the neat finishing of Conor Loftus and Fergal Boland were integral as the visitors added 2-5 without reply and while Leitrim rallied in the final quarter, the bulk of their scores coming from Conor Gaffney, by now the result of the game was very much assured.
**Scorers for Leitrim: **C Gaffney 0-7 (6f), P Dolan 0-3, D Farrell 0-2, K Cox, J Heslin 0-1, R O’Rourke 0-1
Scorers for Mayo: B Reape 2-3, F Duffy 1-2 (1f), C Loftus 0-4 (1f), D O’Connor 1-0 (1-0 pen), F Boland 0-2, M Ruane 0-1
LEITRIM: D McKiernan; K McHugh, E Fowley, J Mitchell; C Cullen, F McTague, K Keegan; D McGovern, P Dolan; K Cox, C Gaffney, D Farrell; J Heslin, C McCauley, R O’Rourke. Subs: L Ryan for Mitchell (25), C Dolan for McCauley (40), O Maddden for McGovern (49), D Byrne for Farrell (55).
MAYO: M Flanagan; C Harrison, S Cunniffe, E Doran; D Kenny, M Hall, J Kelly; V Roughneen, S Coen; F Boland, C Loftus, D O’Connor; M Plunkett, B Reape, F Duffy. **Subs: **M Ruane for Roughneen (19), S Akram for Kelly (ht), Eoin O’Donoghue for Cunniffe (32 – blood), O’Donoghue for Hall (49), J Lyons for Loftus (49), TJ Byrne for O’Connor (55), M Murray for Coen (57).
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EIRGRID CONNACHT U21 FOOTBALL SEMI-FINAL: SLIGO 0-8 ROSCOMMON 1-18
Roscommon were comfortable winners in the second semi-final, keeping their bid for three Connacht U21 titles in a row intact with a comfortable victory at Markievicz Park.
Roscommon led 0-5 to 0-1 at the end of the first quarter, deadly attacking duo Cathal Callinan and Diarmuid Murtagh both showing well.
Kevin Farrell's 23rd minute goal was the decisive score in the game. It left Roscommon seven ahead, although Sligo cut the gap to five by half-time.
Roscommon kicked for home in the third quarter, with Henry Walsh (2), Diarmuid Murtagh and Hubert Darcy kicking over scores to leave the Rossies 1-11 to 0-5 ahead.
Sligo rallied with a Cathal Henry brace, but a point from Cathal Compton was followed by three quickfire scores from Darcy, and Roscommon eased to the finish from there.
