Ciaran Brady, Cavan, and Ciaráin Murtagh, Roscommon, in Allianz Football League action. Photo by Tom Beary/Sportsfile
Allianz Football League Division Two
Cavan 0-22 (0-2-18) Roscommon 0-20 (0-2-16)
By Kevin Egan at King & Moffatt Dr. Hyde Park.
After starting the season with two heavy defeats, losses that were painful for any Cavan supporter and devastating to anyone around Kingscourt with Monaghan and Meath both just over the road, Cavan now find themselves right in the promotion mix after they finished strongly, kicking four of the last five points to account for Roscommon this afternoon.
It was the least that Cavan deserved after they worked their way back into the tie, with Seán McEvoy and Dara McVeety both hugely impressive up front.
Roscommon had their own attacking threats, particularly Conor Hand, who once again produced an outstanding display, but their failure to win much turnover ball meant that a lot of their key men didn’t get the supply of ball that they needed.
The opening 15 minutes went exactly as the home side would have wanted, with Conor Cox hoisting over a superb two-pointer to make it 0-5 to 0-1 after eight minutes, while Conor Hand cancelled out two Cormac O’Reilly points with another double, this time kicked over the bar off the ground from a free on the left side.
The winning of the game for Cavan was in the next ten minutes, when they played into the slight breeze and rattled off five points in a row, working the ball well through the lines with James Smith and McVeety hugely influential in that regard.
Cian McKeon ended a 10-minute scoring drought for the Rossies with one of his three first half scores, but Cavan continued to play the better football and while they trailed by 0-11 to 0-9 at the interval, it could have been very different as they missed two glorious goal chances. Barry Donnelly pulled one shot wide from eight metres out while Conor Carroll did brilliantly to get his right hand down to parry a Gearóid McKiernan effort.
Eddie Nolan exploited the new kickout mark by making two fine fetches and getting immediately impeded, leading to close-range Conor Cox frees that doubled the Roscommon lead early in the second half, but Cavan quickly replied with a rousing two-pointer from McVeety, and by the eighth minute of the second half, they were back in front.
The closing half-hour was end-to-end, and for most of it, score for score. Conor Hand kicked one excellent point and earned a free that Conor Cox converted, while Diarmuid Murtagh split the uprights with his first touch for another score, but Cavan seemed to get their points a little bit easier, in no small part because of the additional threat posed by McEvoy up front.
The Ramor United man has worked his way up the pecking order since joining the panel on his return from America and it was fitting that he fired over the clinching score from the right wing, leaving Roscommon with just 90 seconds to chase in vain for an equalising goal.
Scorers for Cavan: Cormac O’Reilly 0-4, Gearóid McKiernan 0-6 (4fs, 1 tpf), Dara McVeety 0-4 (1 tp), Cian Madden 0-3 (2fs), Seán McEvoy 0-3, Barry Donnelly 0-1, James Smith 0-1.
Scorers for Roscommon: Conor Hand 0-4 (1tpf, 1 45), Conor Cox 0-4 (1 tp, 2fs), Cian McKeon 0-3, Ciaráin Murtagh 0-3 (1f), Diarmuid Murtagh 0-3 (2fs), Enda Smith 0-2, Ultan Harney 0-1.
Cavan: Gary O’Rourke; Brían O’Connell, Cian Reilly, Niall Carolan; Gerard Smith, Pádraig Faulkner, Ciarán Brady; James Smith, Gearóid McKiernan; Dara McVeety, Luke Fortune, Barry Donnelly; Oisín Brady, Cormac O’Reilly, Cian Madden.
Subs: Seán McEvoy for O Brady (12), Ryan O’Neill for McVeety (20-22 mins, temp), Evan Crowe for Fortune (50), Thomas Edward Donoghue for O’Reilly (53), Ryan O’Neill for J Smith (55).
Roscommon: Conor Carroll; Niall Higgins, Ruaidhrí Fallon, David Murray; Robbie Dolan, John McManus, Shane Cunnane; Eddie Nolan, Ultan Harney; Cian McKeon, Conor Hand, Enda Smith; Conor Cox, Ben O’Carroll, Ciaráin Murtagh.
Subs: Shane Killoran for Harney (8-19 mins, temp), Colm Neary for Dolan (30), Diarmuid Murtagh for Cox (49), Keith Doyle for Harney (49), Daire Cregg for McKeon (61), Dylan Ruane for Cunnane (65).
Referee: Seán Hurson (Tyrone)
