Roscommon 0-24 Leitrim 0-10: Rossies into another decider

Reigning champions Roscommon are back in the Connacht final after beating Leitrim, 0-24 to 0-10.

Eleven unanswered points each side of half-time sent Kevin McStay's Roscommon into a third Connacht final in a row and denied Leitrim a second championship win of the summer.

Leitrim were totally outclassed by Roscommon, who had 12 different scorers on the day, including four points from substitute Cathal Cregg in the last 12 minutes.

Leitrim failed to score during a 40-minute spell from the ninth to the 49th minute, but when substitute Darragh Rooney stopped the rot the result was beyond doubt. The champions now face either Sligo or Galway in the final on June 17.

Playing with a strong wind at their backs the defending champions would have been thrilled to go in 0-9 to 0-2 to the good at the interval, but the home side will no doubt have been dismayed that they failed to build on a decent start at Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada.

Some patient play from Leitrim allowed Keith Beirne to kick the first score of the game early on, with Emlyn Mulligan and Brendan Gallagher well involved in the build-up, but after four minutes Jack Heslin was denied by a smart save on the Roscommon line, which would have give Benny Guckian's side a significant lift.

Instead of leading by four points, Leitrim soon found themselves in arrears as Diarmuid Murtagh twice pointed for his side, and although Beirne responded with a free to level matters Leitrim failed to score again for the rest of the half.

With Brian Stack performing well around the middle for Roscommon Kevin McStay's forwards were getting a plentiful supply of ball and they landed the next seven points of the game as the Murtagh brothers, Fintan Cregg, Stack and Enda Smith all found the target.

Leitrim had their chances and Beirne missed a couple of tricky frees, while the 1994 Connacht champions were also guilty of giving the ball away cheaply, which cost them dearly with scores at the other end.

Leitrim attempted to shake things up in the forward line by moving Donal Wrynn into the full-forward line, but nevertheless, the Roscommon dominance continued in the early minutes of the second half.

Conor Devaney, Donie Smith and Niall Kilroy kicked their first points of the game, before Leitrim finally ended their shocking run when substitute Darragh Rooney pointed four minutes after his introduction. There was also an early impact from another sub Ryan O'Rourke - both players had originally been named to start but were withdrawn before the start - but his point only put 11 points between the sides.

But Roscommon too had power hitters to arrive, and Cregg landed four from play, while Shane Killoran also split the posts to secure the win.

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Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan)

Scorers for Roscommon: D Murtagh (0-5, 2f), C Cregg (0-4), C Murtagh (0-3, 1f), D Smith (0-2), E Smith (0-2), C Devaney (0-1), C Compton (0-1), N Kilroy (0-1), Fintan Cregg (0-1), B Stack (0-1), S Killoran (0-1), J McManus (0-1), T O'Rourke (0-1)

Scorers for Leitrim: D Moran (0-3), D Rooney (0-2), K Beirne (0-2, 1f), R O'Rourke (0-1), E Mulligan (0-1, '45), S Quinn (0-1)

TEAMS:

Roscommon:

1. Colm Lavin

2. David Murray

3. Peter Domican

4. Niall McInerney

5. John McManus

12. Fintan Cregg

6. Brian Stack

8. Cathal Compton

9. Tadhg O'Rourke

10. Enda Smith

11. Niall Kilroy

7. Conor Devaney

13. Dónal Smith

14. Diarmuid Murtagh

15. Ciaráin Murtagh

Subs:
17. Cathal Cregg for Ciaráin Murtagh (52nd minute);
18. Conor Daly for Enda Smith (52nd minute);
26. Shane Killoran for Brian Stack (59th minute);
23. Ronan Stack for Kilroy (59th minute);
19. Finbar Cregg for Dónal Smith (61st minute);
22. Pádraig Kelly for Compton (66th minute);

Leitrim:

1. Diarmuid McKiernan

18. Alan Armstrong

2. Paddy Maguire

3. Michael McWeeney

17. Noel Plunkett

7. Shane Quinn

5. James Rooney

8. Mark Plunkett

9. Dean McGovern

10. Jack Heslin

11. Emlyn Mulligan

15. Brendan Gallagher

20. Aidan Flynn

14. Keith Beirne

6. Dónal Wrynn

Subs:
12. Ryan O'Rourke for Heslin (36th minute);
13. Darragh Rooney for Beirne (43rd minute);
23. Damien Moran for Mark Plunkett (52nd minute);
4. Oisín Madden for Gallagher (52nd minute);
21. Eoin Ward for James Rooney (68th minute);
19. Domhnall Flynn for Aidan Flynn (70th minute).