Mayo 1-12 Roscommon 0-8:JAMES HORAN made it two from two in defence of the league title as Mayo turned up the heat in the second half before a crowd of over 2,000 in perfect conditions in Ballyhaunis yesterday.

A seven-point win for the home side looked unlikely given the dominance of Roscommon in the first 20 minutes, but they failed to put away two golden goal chances which fell to Donal Shine and Cathal Cregg.

Mark Ronaldson kept Mayo in the game in the first half with some fine free-taking as Mayo trailed 0-7 to 0-6 at the break, Donal Shine nailing three frees for the Rossies, while Kevin Higgins scored two fine points.

But it was Ronaldson’s soccer-style goal three minutes into the second half which saw Mayo take control as Fintan Cregg’s early point in the second half proved to be Roscommon’s last score of the game.

The win puts Mayo and John Maughan’s NUIG on course for a final meeting.

MAYO:K O'Malley; K Higgins, D Killeen, E Reilly; T Howley, L Keegan, R O'Connor; B Moran, J Kilcullen; I Rowland, C Freeman, A Farrell (0-1); E Varley (0-2), M Ronaldson (1-7, six frees), B Benson. Subs:R Feeney for Howley, J Gibbons (0-1) for Kilcullen, A O'Malley for Farrell, A Kilcoyne (0-1) for Benson, C Hallinan for Moran.

ROSCOMMON:E McGinley; S Purcell, D Ward, S McDermott; C Beirne, N Carty, J Nolan; M Finneran, K Higgins (0-2); F Cregg (0-1), J Connaughton (0-1), S O'Grady; J Dunning (0-1), D Shine (0-3, three frees), C Cregg. Subs:J Carney for Ward, J Rogers for Shine, T Kelly for Dunning.

Referee:M Duffy (Sligo).

Next Up . . .There are two groups, with NUIG finishing top in Group One. They await the winners of Group Two in the final. There are three Group Two games still to be played – Leitrim v GMIT (which was postponed this weekend), Leitrim v Mayo and Roscommon v GMIT. Mayo top the group with four points, with Roscommon on two.