Donegal 0-17 Roscommon 1-19
Roscommon produced another fantastic show on the road to qualify for the semi-finals of the Allianz League semi-finals.
With Kevin McStay’s side having won in Cork and Kerry already this year, they took another scalp this afternoon in Letterkenny to overcome Rory Gallagher’s Donegal.
Roscommon’s first half showing was excellent. Donegal couldn’t live with their running game and the hosts were fortunate to be just five down, 0-11 to 0-6 at half-time.
Niall Daly - who would score three points - was continually ghosting in behind and Ciaran Murtagh was content to clip over free after free.
Donegal, for their part, managed just a single point from play and that came from the boot of Odhrán MacNiallais.
It was a different game after the break as Donegal pressed and pressed. Michael Murphy carried the burden of responsibility well, scoring seven in all.
By the 55th minute Donegal were only two down, 0-15 to 0-13 and it was back in the melting pot. However, the home team had lost MacNiallais to a second yellow card.
Roscommon were defending for their lives but up front, had cutting edge and that was emphatically shown when Cathal Clegg rammed past Peter Boyle 10 minutes from time.
Scorers for Donegal: M Murphy 0-7 (4f), P McBrearty 0-6f, R McHugh, O Mac Niallais, E McHugh, C Toye 0-1 each
Scorers for Roscommon: C Murtagh 0-6 (5f), C Cregg 1-2, F Cregg 0-5 (3f), N Daly 0-3, C Daly, C Devaney, E Smith 0-1 each
Donegal: P Boyle; E Doherty, E McGee, P McGrath; E Gallagher, R McHugh, E McHugh; R Kavanagh, N Gallagher; A Thompson, M McElhinney, O Mac Niallais; P McBrearty, M Murphy, M O’Reilly. Subs: M McHugh for Thompson (19), K Lacey for McGee (32), C Toye for N.Gallagher (h-t), S McBrearty for McElhinney (50), N Gallagher for E.Gallagher (66)
Roscommon: G Claffey; N McInerney, N Collins, S McDermott; R Stack, S Purcell, D Murray; F Cregg, N Daly; C Daly, C Murtagh, C Devaney; C Connolly, S Kilbride, C Cregg. Subs: Niall Kilroy for C.Daly (black card, 35), E Smith for Connolly (52), C Compton for N.Daly (56), J McManus for Stack (66)
Referee: P Hughes (Armagh).
