An understrength Sligo fought
valiantly to the final whistle on Monday evening in the Connacht Centre of Excellence
but ultimately came up short in the opening game of this year’s Connacht pre
season hurling league.
After a bright opening from
the Yeats county, Roscommon took control of the game from late in the first
half but despite an outstanding display of sharp shooting from full forward
Paddy Flynn, who accounted for 19 of their 31 points (16 from place balls), the
winners could never get away from a depleted Sligo side that refused to give
in.
Sligo started without almost
half the regulars who had propelled them to a League Div 2B final last year and
were forced into further changes as the game progressed but still made life
difficult across the field for the eventual winners.
Despite that they started at a
good pace and were off the mark early with good movement and scores from Joe
McHugh and ace sharpshooter Andrew Kilcullen.
Fallon was keeping Roscommon in
touch with a series of place balls but with Rory McHugh dictating play at the other
hand, Sligo definitely had the better of the opening quarter, topped off with a
superbly finished Andy Kilcullen goal after ten minutes which gave them a three
point advantage.
Roscommon began to get an
upper hand around the middle as the game wore on and drew level for the first
time – 0-10 to 1-7 – with a Matt Comerford point on 25 minutes.
That signalled a little purple
patch for the eventual winners who added four points without reply in a five
minute spell that threatened to change the shape of the game.
Sligo hit back however with two
quick points from Joe McHugh and a Kilcullen free before Mikey Gordon found the
net after another superb run by Rory McHugh to leave just a point between the teams
– 0-16 to 2-9 – at the break.
Sligo’s chances took a blow at
half time as All Star forward Andrew Kilcullen was withdrawn as a precaution
after a slight arm injury but the contest remained close as Thomas Cawley stepped
into Kilcullen’s shoes with an equally reliable free taking technique to bring
the sides level ten minutes into the half at 2-12 to 0-18.
Roscommon had a big chance to
open a gap when they were awarded a penalty on the quarter hour mark but while Fallon
was otherwise imperious over the placed ball, he couldn’t get the better of
Sligo netminder Jimmy Gordon diving brilliantly to his right to preserve his
clean sheet.
As it entered its last quarter,
the game started to get quite fragmented as both sides started to run their bench
and the greater experience and quality of Roscommon’s reserves started to tell.
On 18 minutes, captain Brendan Mulry had the first of three unanswered scores
that opened out an advantage that Sligo were ultimately unable to pull back.
The winners outscored Sligo by
nine points to four in the final 15 minutes, including three points in added
time to complete a victory – by seven points, 0-31 to 2-18 – that never looked
in doubt but that was for the most part only secured when Sligo were without
the vast majority of their front line players.
Roscommon: Enda Lawless; Thomas Fleming, Mark Ward, James
Dillon; Padraic Brennan, Thomas Cosgrove, Padraig Kelly; Mickey Lohan, Dara
Finn (0-1); Conor Mulry (0-2), Brendan Mulry (0-1), Eamonn Flanagan; Eoin
FitzGerald (0-1), Paddy Fallon (0-19, 15f, 1 65), Matthew Comerford (0-1).
Subs used: Mickey Joe Egan (0-4),
Eamon Mulry, Joe Brennan, Darragh Mullen, Ryan Conlon (0-1), Gearoid Egan
(0-1), Michael Brennan, Kevin Brennan, Cormac Mulry,
Sligo: Jimmy Gordon; Bernard Feeney, Shane Molloy, James
Weir; Ronan Molloy, Eanna Moylan, Niall Kilcullen(0-2); Eoghan Rua McGowan, Finnian
Cawley (0-1); Rory McHugh (0-1), Mikey Gordon (1-0), Thomas Cawley (0-10, 6f); Fionn
Moylan, Andrew Kilcullen (1-4, 3f), Joe McHugh
Subs used: Fionn Connolly,
Hayden Gilroy, Ian Barrett, Cian Flynn, Darragh Flynn, Lee Gilmartin, Luke
Reddy, Luke Moloney, Emmett Brennan, Adam Kilrehill