Connacht MFC: Sligo complete double over Rossies

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Connacht MFC: Sligo complete double over Rossies

Friday, July 03, 2015

ELECTRIC IRELAND CONNACHT MFC SEMI-FINAL: ROSCOMMON 3-5 SLIGO 1-14

Sligo completed a senior and minor double over Roscommon tonight and were by far the more impressive side of the two in a lively Connacht semi-final at Kiltoom GAA grounds - yet Roscommon came within a hair’s breadth of pulling off a remarkable smash and grab raid, when late goals from Daniel Glynn and Brian Stack drew them level in a contest that was dominated by Sligo up to that point.

Roscommon manager Jimmy Gacquin elected to line out in a very defensive pattern, with wing-forwards Michael McGloin and Kieran White dropping back into their own half, and the tactic backfired spectacularly as Sligo’s wing backs – shorn of their key defensive duty -poured forward at will, offering great support to their forwards and helping the Yeats County into an early 0-3 to 0-1 lead.

This year’s Connacht Colleges “A” final between Roscommon CBS and Summerhill College of Sligo featured several of tonight’s protagonists and while the Roscommon students gained the edge in that decider, it was Sligo’s Summerhill contingent who stood out throughout this tie. Sean Power collected the Man of the Match award for a sterling effort from left wing back, Nathan Rooney pulled the strings at the heart of Sligo’s attack throughout the hour, Cathal Herron came off the bench to kick a crucial late score while Kyle Cawley was devastating at top of the right, terrorising the Roscommon back line throughout.

Dara Cummins, another Summerhill player, opened the scoring with a stunning right footed strike and he was one of seven different Sligo scorers in the first half. Five points were posted by the away side in the opening quarter when they played some of their best football, while Roscommon looked outnumbered and out of ideas close to the Sligo goal. Eddie McGuinness certainly played a captain’s role with his shackling of Huber Darcy, Roscommon’s leading forward, and it was a measure of Sligo’s dominance that Roscommon failed to kick a point from play at any stage in the tie.

An astute lateral pass from Darcy into Richard Hughes and a blistering low finish from the wing back brought Roscommon right back into the tie in first half injury time at 0-7 to 1-3, but with the very next possession Sligo came right down the field and Kyle Cawley was able jump highest and touch Nathan Rooney’s long delivery past the onrushing Roscommon goalkeeper.

An explosive two minute period was rounded off when Brian Stack burst through a series of tacklers and blasted a low shot off the post, ensuring that Sligo still led by four at the break.

If Aidan Rooney’s charges are to take the critical next step on the 19th of July and win what would be Sligo’s third ever Connacht minor title, the third quarter is the type of spell they’ll have to be sure to avoid. Roscommon were completely bereft of ideas in this spell and didn’t score for the first 23 minutes of the second half, yet Sligo failed to put them away as they racked up plenty of wides of their own. Points from Liam Gaughan and Paul Kilcoyne were as good as anyone could hope to see in any ground in Ireland this weekend from Killarney to Cavan, and yet when Darcy tapped over a free to end Roscommon’s drought, just seven points were between the sides. Indeed it could have been much closer still, had Conor Murray not hit the post with a goalbound effort around the 45 minute mark.

As happened in first half injury time, the 55th minute saw the tie explode into life with a burst of scores, this time all the Sligo end of the ground. Daniel Glynn gave the home supporters something to cheer about when he deflected Michael McGloin’s long delivery into the net, and Conor Murray followed up with an excellent score. Roscommon were now chasing an equalising goal and they passed up a couple of point scoring chances when many would have felt that they still had time to bridge the gap the simple way, but their approach was vindicated when Brian Stack collected a break and capped off a wonderful individual performance with a great shot to the roof of the Sligo net.

Roscommon collected the resultant kickout and looked to have all the momentum on their side, but they were turned over (one of 28 times they coughed up possession in the game, in contrast to Sligo’s much more efficient total of 15) and when the ball broke down the field, Rian Kennedy was on hand to fire the ball over the black spot with a forty metre left footed strike. Darragh Cummins and Cathal Herron added further scores and while referee Liam Devenney gave the Rossies one last chance to go for goal, it was somewhat appropriate that Mark Richardson’s effort was blocked down by Darragh Cummins – one of an incredible tally of twelve blockdowns on a night when a young Sligo team proved that they had the heart and the will to go where no Sligo minor team has gone since 1998 – the Connacht championship final.

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Roscommon Scorers: R Hughes, D Glynn & B Stack 1-0 each, H Darcy 0-3f, C McKeon (f) & C Murray 0-1 each

Sligo Scorers: K Cawley 1-3, L Gaughan (0-1f), D Cummins & C Herron 0-2 each, P O’Connor, S Power, S Carrabine, P Kilcoyne & R Kennedy 0-1 each.

Roscommon: J Fetherstone; D Duff, A Dowd, J Donohue; L Kelly, M Richardson, R Hughes; C Murray, G Keenan; M McGloin, B Stack, K White; C Payne, H Darcy, C McKeon. Subs: L Carty for Kelly (15), M Bourke for Carty (15 – b/c), D Glynn for McKeon (42), C Lennon for White (51)

Sligo: E Kilgannon; M O’Dowd, E McGuinness, B Mahon; N Mullen, F Cawley, S Power; P Kilcoyne, D Cummins; L Gaughan, N Rooney, S Carrabine; K Cawley, P O’Connor, M Gordon. Subs: C Herron for Carrabine (34), A Kearns for Mahon (46 – b/c), R Kennedy for Gaughan (52), K Banks for F Cawley (60+2 – b/c)

Referee: Liam Devenney (Mayo)

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Report: Kevin Egan