Roscommon defeat 14-man Down in Division Two final

Ciarán Murtagh celebrates after scoring his second-half goal

Roscommon claimed their second National League title in as many years with a 1-17 to 0-15 victory over 14-man Down in the Division Two final at Croke Park.

The sides were locked at 0-7 apiece at the interval but Roscommon kicked on at the start of the second half, going four points up thanks to a brace from man-of-the-match Senan Kilbride.

Down lost centre-back Brendan McArdle to a second yellow card just before half-time, but they reduced the deficit back to a point on 50 minutes, which simply drew another wonderful point from Kilbride.

After that Roscommon showed a lot more class up front, a smashing goal from Ciarán Murtagh on 62 minutes easing them home, that ball broken down by substitute Donie Shine.

Roscommon, who started without young forward Diarmuid Murtagh, opened with a little more appetite, going 0-3 to 0-1 in front thanks to Cathal Cregg, Ciarán Murtagh and a free from Cian Connolly.

Down levelled it up after 10 minutes thanks to Brendan McCardle, and then both teams went another 13 minutes before treating us to another score.

They then finished up the first half trading points, Donal O’Hare hitting the best of them for Down, before Donal Smith levelled it up again for Roscommon to leave it all to play for in the second half.

Once Niall Carty had lifted the Division Two trophy for Roscommon, thoughts were already shifting towards their respective championship dates.

Roscommon are out again in just four weeks when they play London in Ruislip on May 24 in a Connacht Championship quarter-final, while Down visit Celtic Park on June 7 for their Ulster quarter-final with Derry.

In Saturday’s deciders, Tony Kernan kicked six points as Armagh defeated Ulster rivals Fermanagh by 0-16 to 0-11 in the Division Three final, while Offaly claimed Division Four honours with a resounding 4-16 to 1-12 success over Longford.

Scorers

Roscommon: C Connolly 0-5 (4f), C Murtagh 1-2 (1f), S Kilbride 0-4, C Cafferky, D Smith, C Cregg, D Murtagh, U Harney, D Shine (f) 0-1 each.

Down: D O’Hare 0-5 (4f), K McKernan 0-2, B McArdle, C Mooney, C Maginn, P Devlin (f), C Laverty, P Fitzpatrick, R Johnston, J Johnston (f) 0-1 each.