EIRGRID CONNACHT U-20 FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINAL

ROSCOMMON 1-11

SLIGO 1-8

Kevin Egan at Markievicz Park

The new playing surface at Markievicz Park held up well in the face of Storm Dennis, but the Sligo U-20 footballers weren’t able to take advantage and secure a place in this year’s Connacht final as their late surge came too late against Roscommon this afternoon.

Three years ago Liam Tully brought Roscommon’s U-17 footballers all the way to an All-Ireland final against Tyrone in the inaugural championship at that age group and this afternoon he send a team onto the field with most of the same players, and consequently they started as strong favourites for this fixture.

In the early stages of the contest, that looked like a fair assessment of proceedings as the Rossies took control of the game at defence and midfield, albeit aided by a slight wind, while their movement and interplay up front set up a string of early chances.

Ciarán Lawless struck two excellent 45’s to get them off the mark, and that was followed up by a tap in goal for corner forward Adam McDermott, as easy a finish as the Castlerea man will ever get in his career after he pounced on a catastrophic kick out from Daniel Lyons.

McDermott earned another free that was tapped over the bar by Peter Gillooly and when Paul Carey followed up with a nice score on the run, all was going to plan for Liam Tully’s side.

Sligo created just one attack in this early stage, a simple high ball that was fielded by Red Óg Murphy, only for the former Australian Rules player to be denied by a superb block from Dylan Gaughan.

Quietly however, Roscommon lost a touch of their intensity and sharpness, and Sligo began to get a more even share of possession. Murphy was pushed back out to midfield where he was far more influential, while they also started to get to grips with the Roscommon half-forward line, particularly the danger men that were Paul Carey and Paul McManus.

Alan Reilly got the home side off the mark with a point in the 19th minute and while Roscommon added the next two scores, a mistake on the right side of their defence in first half injury time led to an overlap and a goal chance. This in turn resulted in a desperate tackle by Pearse Frost on Joe Keaney that conceded a penalty, and Murphy duly slotted home the spot kick.

That left Sligo just five points adrift at the break, 1-6 to 1-1, a far less daunting lead than had been the case up to that point.

Conor Murray cut the gap even further with a point from the first attack of the second half, but for the next twenty minutes Roscommon simply contained their opponents, moving six points clear and holding it at that. The full back line of Pearse Frost, Colin Walsh and Dylan Gaughan (until his injury) kept things tight and it was only the closing stages that Sligo found another gear, inspired by two points in 50 seconds from Murray and Gavin Duffy.

Two frees from Murphy and a mark from Duffy reduced the gap to a goal and Sligo supporters ere given even further cause for optimism when there were six minutes of stoppage time announced, but Roscommon’s defensive solidity held up, even after they struggled to compete in the middle third, and Sligo were unable to engineer the goal chance that they needed to keep their season alive.  

Scorers for Roscommon: Adam McDermott 1-1 (0-1f), Ciarán Lawless (‘45s), Paul Carey (0-1f), & Peter Gillooly (0-2f) 0-2 each, Cian Murray, Keith Doyle, Darragh Walsh & Andrew Lyons (m) 0-1 each.    

Scorers for Sligo: Red Óg Murphy 1-2 (1-0 pen, 0-2f), Conor Murray & Gavin Duffy (0-1m) 0-2 each, Eoghan Smith & Alan Reilly 0-1 each.

ROSCOMMON: Michael O'Donnell; Pearse Frost, Colin Walsh, Dylan Gaughan; Cian Murray, Niall Higgins, Paul McGrath; Keith Doyle, Ciaran Lawless; Rúairí Fallon, Paul McManus, Paul Carey; Adam McDermott, Darragh Walsh, Peter Gillooly. Subs: Robbie Dolan for Murray (HT), Andrew Lyons for McDermott (39), John Martin for Gaughan (43), Dylan Sumner for Doyle (51), Ciarán Sugrue for Gillooly (59).

SLIGO: Daniel Lyons; Kevin O'Hara, Evan Lyons, Jack Lavin; Sean Carroll, Cian Surlis, Eoghan Sweeney; Joe Keaney, Gavin Gorman; Shane Deignan, Eoghan Smith, Conor Murray; Barry Cafferky, Red Óg Murphy, Alan Reilly. Subs: James Carroll for Cafferky (30), Gavin Duffy for Reilly (43), Oisín McCann for O'Hara (45), Niall Murphy for Carroll (54).

Referee: Tadhg Murphy (Galway)