Roscommon 7-16 Leitrim 0-7
Leitrim suffered one of their heaviest defeats in years against a second string Roscommon who rarely moved out of second gear in a one-sided Connacht FBDsemi-final.
The visitors set up with just four of their Connacht Final team and introduced six newcomers, while Leitrim were short 11 of their first choice players. And it showed, as Roscommon dominated proceedings and were rarely threatened by the hosts.
Noel Gately opened the floodgates for Roscommon, hitting the net in the sixth minute. Leistrim responded through a David Bruen point from play - their only score of the half.
Andy Glennon extended the Rossies’ lead with an eighth minute goal through a porous Leitrim defence and things got worse for the hosts when Enda Smith netted in the 14th minute.
The fourth Roscommon goal and Glennon’s second came in the 22nd minute to effectively end the game as a contest and the visitors led 4-7 to 0-1 at the interval.
An Enda Smith penalty goal four minutes after the break added to Leitrim’s woes and two further Roscommon goals, by Finbarr Cregg in the 45th and 50th minutes, completed the rout. A late mini-revival by Leitrim resulted in four points without reply but by then it didn’t really matter.
Leitrim: D McKiernan; C Reynolds, P Maguire, A Flynn; D Bruen (0-1), J Gilheany, C Farrell; D Wrynn (0-1); S Flanagan, C Duffy, C Dolan (0-1, free); R O'Rourke, D Rooney, A Hoare (0-1), N Brady. Subs: F McTague for C Farrell (HT), M Diffley for C Duffy (HT), K Gaffey for D McKiernan (43), O McCaffrey (0-1) for D Bruen (54), O McLoughlin (0-2, one free)for R O'Rourke (54).
Roscommon: C Lavin; M Richardson, C Daly (0-1), A Dowd; P Scott, N Daly, J Casey; L Mollahan, S Killoran (0-2); D Ruane (0-2), E Smith (2-1), Finbarr Cregg (2-1); A Glennon (2-0), C Lennon (0-1), N Gately (1-2). Subs: T O'Rourke for S Killoran (HT), C Cregg (0-1) for N Gately (HT) C Cox (0-5, two frees) (HT), D Murray for C Daly (HT), N Kilroy for F Cregg (51).
Referee: Liam Devanney (Mayo).
