U-21F ALL-IRELAND SEMI FINAL Dublin 2-10 Roscommon 0-8:A STUNNING start proved half the battle for Dublin as they left Roscommon reeling at Kingspan Breffni Park on Saturday.
The Jim Gavin-managed Dublin side raced into a 2-2 to 0-1 lead after barely five minutes.
Roscommon recovered from self-imploding on the traps to get within three points thereafter, but, in truth, they never looked like winning their game of catch-up.
Gavin admitted Roscommon’s slow start proved pivotal to his side’s achievement in reaching the final.
“We got two lucky goals which gave us a valuable cushion early on,” he said. “If we hadn’t got those goals, it would have been a completely different story. They dominated the first half and their forwards put our backs under a lot of pressure.
“Lucky for us, they missed a lot of scores in that first half. If they had taken their chances, we’d definitely have been in a lot of trouble.”
Roscommon couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start with goalkeeper Darren O’Malley caught out for David Quinn’s second-minute goal, but his mistake was compounded just 90 seconds later.
Dublin’s Ted Furman seemed to be running out of space in heading for goal, but a push in the back by Roscommon defender Paul O’Grady resulted in a penalty which Dean Rock converted.
Dublin had a 2-3 to 0-4 lead at the start of the second half, but 11 minutes later disaster struck for Dublin when Furman was red-carded for a high tackle on Neil Collins.
Two unanswered points by the Connacht men, including a gem from Darren McDermott, cut Dublin’s lead to 0-6 to 2-3 by the three-quarter hour mark.
Roscommon kept nipping away at Dublin’s heels, but a hat-trick of inspirational points by Robert McCarthy maintained Dublin’s firm grip on the tiller.
A air of inevitability wafted its way over proceedings towards the end of the game and two converted frees by Donal Shine was all the westerners could muster in the final quarter.
DUBLIN: V Whelan; E Culligan, R OCarroll, D Nelson; J Cooper, S Murray, N Devereux (0-1); J McCarthy, C Mullins (0-1); C Dorney (0-1), D Rock (1-2, 1-0 penalty, 0-1 free), G Sweeney (0-1); B ORorke (0-1), D Quinn (1-0), T Furnman. Subs: J McDermott for J McCarthy (half-time), M Coughlan for C Dorney (half-time), R McCarthy (0-3)for B O'Rorke (33 mins), C Reddin for D Quinn (57 mins), N Brogan for N Devereux (59 mins).
Roscommon: D OMalley; P OGrady, N Collins, M Higgins; J McKeague, N Daly, E Bannon; N Carty (0-1), K Higgins (0-1); P Garvey, C Shine (0-1), B Murtagh; N Kilroy, D Shine (0-4, all frees), D McDermott (0-1). Subs: A O'Hara for C Shine (20 mins), E Kenny for B Murtagh (44 mins), R Gleeson for N Collins (52 mins), L OConnor for P Garvey (57 mins).
Referee: C Branagan(Down).
