A general view of King & Moffatt Dr Hyde Park. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
Electric Ireland Connacht MFC
Roscommon 4-14 Mayo 3-9
Galway 1-17 Sligo 0-18
A third win in succession for Roscommon has nailed down top spot and an automatic final berth in the Electric Ireland Connacht MFC with one game still to play, and they are the clear form team in the province after producing an outstanding second half showing against Mayo in King & Moffatt Dr. Hyde Park.
Playing with a strong breeze in the first half, the Rossies made an explosive start, hitting 2-3 to open the contest. Sam Hannon’s thunderous right boot landed the first of three two pointers for the Roscommon Gaels club man, while Luke Shally and Dara Curran each scored a goal and set up one for the other. Curran got his fist to Shally’s high shot that dropped in the square, then played a flat handpass at the end of a quick turnover attack to allow Shally to palm the ball into the net.
Mayo’s response was excellent, however, as they pulled back to within a single point at half-time, 2-6 to 2-5. Conor Hession alternated between wing forward and the edge of the square and he hit 1-2 while he operated at full-forward, and some gorgeous footwork from Dara Flanagan set up the other green flag for Conor Jordan.
However, 25 minutes into the second half, Mayo had put just one more point on the board while Roscommon were now out of sight. Dean Casey came off the bench to kick an early score and he also played a sublime pass into Curran for a goal, Christopher Feerick picked out the top corner after cutting in from the left, and there were also good scores posted by Enda Browne and Seamus Hussey, with Tadhg Rogers the lynchpin in a solid defensive unit.
Flanagan showed his class with a superb finish for a late Mayo goal while the last score of the day came from Adam Kelly as he hoisted their only orange flag, but there was no masking Roscommon’s supremacy at that stage.
Sligo also made a late burst at Kilcoyne Park, but the clock run out on the home side there, as Galway held on to win by 1-17 to 0-18, having led by 10 points with less than 10 minutes remaining.
Barry Keating and Darragh Costello kicked the best of the points with Ryan Lang on target twice for Sligo in the opening half, after which Galway were 0-11 to 0-5 in front.
A powerful catch and slick pass from Cian Hynes set up Costello for a goal two minutes into the second half and when Ciarán O’Donnell burst forward to slot over a point in the 56th minute, the score was 1-16 to 0-9 and it looked like Galway were cruising to victory.
Ewan Boland hit two late doubles from distance to prevent anyone from leaving early and goalkeeper Gareth Cummins also split the posts from outside the arc, but time ran out on Sligo, whose trip to Hastings Insurance MacHale Park next week looks like a do-or-die battle for both them and their green and red neighbours.
