Comfortable win for Mayo

Connacht SF League/ Mayo 2-12 Roscommon 1-8 : John Maughan's old county turned the screw on his adopted county as Mayo swept…

Connacht SF League/ Mayo 2-12 Roscommon 1-8: John Maughan's old county turned the screw on his adopted county as Mayo swept aside Roscommon a lot easier than the scoreline suggests at Ballinlough.

The winners booked their ticket to the final, but more important for new manager Mickey Moran was the ability of his team to stake a claim over their rivals, which they did with some ease as Mayo raced into a 2-3 lead after just 10 minutes.

The prodigal son of Mayo football, David Brady, was the provider for his brother Ger to score the opening goal inside 15 seconds of the start and, five minutes later, Pat Casey scored a second goal as Roscommon were torn apart at the back - Maughan forced into an early substitution by replacing his full back.

Gerry Lohan finally got Roscommon off the mark with a free in the 11th minute and the same player added three more points as Roscommon trailed 2-7 to 0-5 at half-time - Alan Dillon and Barry Regan showing up smartly for Mayo in that first half.

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The explosive first half was in marked contrast to a second half which deteriorated considerably.

Not even a Paul Moran goal, which narrowed the gap to six points, seven minutes from time could rekindle the fading hope of Roscommon as Mayo finished in some style with points from Dillon, substitute Ger Brady from Claremorris, James Gill and Barry Regan.

MAYO: F Ruddy; D Geraghty, P Kelly, A Higgins; B Ruane, J Nallen, A Feeney; D Brady, J Gill (0-1); S O'Grady, G Brady (1-1), J O'Malley; P Casey (1-1), B Regan (0-3), A Dillon (0-5, three frees). Subs: R McGarrity for D Brady, D Heaney for Geraghty, P Gardiner for Feeney, Ger Brady (0-1, Claremorris) for S O'Grady.

ROSCOMMON: D Moran; J Nolan, S Gallagher, J Rogers; J Tiernan, O'Connor, S Daly; S O'Neill, B Higgins; G Henaghan (0-2), J Callery, D Connellan; P Moran (1-0), K Mannion (0-1), G Lohan (0-5). Subs: S McDermott for Gallagher, B Goode for Daly, D Hagan for Higgins, R Kelly for Callery, R Cox for Heneghan.

Referee: D Mullaney (Sligo).