James Fitzpatrick of Roscommon in action against Ryan O’Toole of Monaghan during the Allianz Football League Division 1 match between Roscommon and Monaghan at Dr Hyde Park in Roscommon. Photo by Daire Brennan/Sportsfile
Allianz Football League Division 1
ROSCOMMON 1-16 MONAGH 0-7
By Ian Cooney at Dr. Hyde Park
Enda Smith catapulted Roscommon to a comfortable victory against a depleted Monaghan side to earn Davy Burke’s men their first win in Division One this season.
The All-Star from Boyle controlled the game for the winners, kicking three sumptuous points from play over the 70 minutes.
Shane Cunnane pitched in with an early second-half goal too to turn the tide decisively in the Rossies’ favour.
Daire Cregg, his side’s top scorer with 0-5, and Diarmuid Murtagh kicked two early frees for Roscommon after a cagey opening before Micheál McCarville opened the visitors’ account from play.
Cregg and Murtagh added further frees for the Rossies before Monaghan captain Kieran Duffy found himself in loads of space to leave his side trailing by 0-4 to 0-2 after 15 minutes.
A free from Jack McCarron was sandwiched between two superb efforts by Enda Smith — one off either foot from distance.
Conor Carroll made an excellent save top deny Jason Irwin what looked like a certain goal. Roscommon duly made the most of that reprieve with points from play by Donie Smith and Daire Cregg — the latter flashing his effort over Darren McDonnell’s crossbar after good approach work by Niall Higgins.
A mark from Irwin left four between them after 29 minutes before Ruaidhrí Fallon got his hand to Daire Cregg’s attempt for a point on the cusp of half time to leave the home side leading by 0-9 to 0-4 at the break.
Three minutes into the second half, Roscommon put themselves in pole position for victory when James Fitzpatrick’s attempt for a point was caught Darren McDonnell. But Shane Cunnane challenged the Monaghan goalkeeper and the ball ended up in the net.
Referee Brendan Griffin, after consulting with his umpires, allowed the goal, and Roscommon never looked back after that.
Monaghan could only manage three points in the second half — a point from play by Ciarán McNulty sandwiched between frees by Stephen Mooney and McCarron.
Roscommon continued to take the game to their visitors and were rewarded with points from defenders David Murray and Dylan Ruane, alongside further scores from Diarmuid Murtagh (0-2), Daire Cregg (0-2) and the excellent Smith to move off the bottom of the table.
Scorers for Roscommon: Daire Cregg 0-5 (0-2f), Diarmuid Murtagh 0-4 (0-3f), Shane Cunnane 1-0, Enda Smith 0-3, Donie Smith 0-1, Ruaidhrí Fallon 0-1, David Murray 0-1, Dylan Ruane 0-1.
Scorers for Monaghan: Jack McCarron 0-2 (0-2f), Micheál McCarville 0-1, Kieran Duffy 0-1, Jason Irwin 0-1 (0-1m), Stephen Mooney 0-1 (0-1f), Ciaran McNulty 0-1.
ROSCOMMON: Conor Carroll; David Murray, Brian Stack, Niall Higgins; Conor Hussey, Eoin McCormack, Dylan Ruane; Enda Smith, Shane Cunnane; Robbie Dolan, Daire Cregg, Ruaidhrí Fallon; Donie Smith, Diarmuid Murtagh, James Fitzpatrick.
Subs: Niall Daly for Hussey h-t, Tadhg O’Rourke for Dolan 44, Cathal Heneghan for Donie Smith 50, Patrick Gavin for Murray 59, Conor Cox for Fitzpatrick 54.
MONAGHAN: Darren McDonnell; Ryan Wylie, Killian Lavelle, Ryan O’Toole; Karol O’Connell, Kieran Duffy, Thomas McPhillips; Andrew Woods, Micheál McCarville; Dessie Ward, Ciarán McNulty, Michael Hamill; Stephen Mooney, Jack McCarron, Jason Irwin.
Subs: Michael Bannigan for Irwin 41, Darren Hughes for McCarville 41, David Garland for Mooney 49, Joel Wilson for O’Connell 59, Kevin Loughran for Ward 67.
Referee: Brendan Griffin (Kerry).
