Division Two A Round-up/Longford 1-16 Limerick 2-13: Longford produced a strong finish to snatch a draw against Limerick at Pearse Park and the star of the show for the home county was corner-forward Brian Kavanagh who fired over eight points, four from frees.
When the visitors led by 2-13 to 1-13 entering the closing stages, it looked like their second goal, flicked to the net by team captain Michael Crowley, 11 minutes into the second half was going to prove the decisive score but late points from Francis McGee, Kavanagh and Paul Barden left the sides all square at the final whistle.
While Limerick got the first score when Pat Ahern landed a point, it was Longford who ended up leading by 0-9 to 0-8 at the break with Kavanagh getting four of the points.
The ball ended up in the back of the net with six minutes gone in the second half when Limerick's Seán Buckley gave opposing goalkeeper Damien Sheridan no chance from close range.
However, the home side recovered quickly as three minutes later a Paul Barden 45 dropped short but the ball was flicked to the net by Pádraig Berry to put Longford 1-11 to 1-9 in front.
The action switched to the other end of the pitch and two minutes later Limerick's Michael Crowley got a vital touch to score his sides second goal.
LONGFORD: D Sheridan; D Brady, B Gilleran, C Conefrey; S Mulligan, M Kelly, A O'Connor; L Keenan, B McElvaney (0-1); P Berry (1-0), P Barden (0-3), J Martin (0-1); F McGee (0-3), K Mulligan, B Kavanagh (0-8, four frees). Subs: D Barden for K Mulligan (51 mins). P Dowd for P Berry (69 mins), K Smyth for L Keenan (70 mins).
LIMERICK: S Kiely; S Gallagher, J McCarthy, P Browne; C Mullane (0-2), D Reidy, S Lavin; J Galvin, J Stokes; P Ahern (0-2), T Carroll, S Buckley (1-1); M Crowley (1-1, 0-1 free), J Murphy (0-2), M Reidy (0-5, two frees, one 45). Sub: G Noonan for S Buckley (inj, 58 mins).
Referee: M Hughes (Tyrone).
O'Neill sets it up
Roscommon 2-14 London 0-3: A goal by Séamus O'Neill after two minutes set up Roscommon for a win over London at Hyde Park. The home side led by 1-9 to 0-1 at half-time and a Ger Heneghan point from play was the only score in the first 13 minutes of the second-half before Karol Mannion scored a goal.
ROSCOMMON: D Lennon; P O'Connor, D Casey, S McDermott; S Purcell, J Nolan, M O'Carroll; S O'Neill (1-1), M Finneran (0-1); J Tiernan, K Mannion (1-1), D Connellan (0-1); C Cregg (0-1), P Moran (0-3), G Heneghan (0-4, three frees). Subs: S Daly for O'Carroll (50 mins), E Ryan for O'Connor (53 mins), G Lohan (0-2, one free) for Heneghan (57 mins), S Fahy for Cregg (60 mins), B Higgins for Tiernan (63 mins).
LONDON: B Molloy; P Callaghan, C Scanlon, P Earley; M Gill, P McConigley, S Curran; G Kane, K Waldon; P Quirke, E Sweeney, C Fuller; W O'Sullivan, A Gallagher (0-3, one free), JP Boyle. Subs: D Meehan for O'Sullivan (30 mins), J Quine for Scanlon (40 mins), J Murphy for Fuller (40 mins), A Dillane for Sweeney (43 mins), F Cunningham for Gill (50 mins).
Referee: C Reilly (Meath).
Donegal far too sharp for a finish
Donegal 1-21 Carlow 0-8: A day for statistics at Dr Cullen Park, the Donegal full forward line accumulating a massive 1-15 of their side's tally while the home side could manage just a single point from play and that from a wing back.
Donegal had never conceded a goal to Carlow in competitive football and that record never looked in danger of being rectified as the visitors swept into a 0-6 to 0-0 advantage after just nine minutes and led 0-11 to 0-4 at half-time.
Any hopes of a Carlow revival were obliterated eight minutes after the restart when approach work from Kevin Cassidy and Christy Toye put James Gallagher through for a goal.
Brian McIvers's charges played some outstanding combination football and their finishing was top class, the majority of their many points coming from play with the full forward line of Adrian Sweeney (0-5), James Gallagher (1-5) and Michael Doherty (0-5) inflicting severe damage on Carlow. In contrast, Carlow managed just eight points, seven from frees, Brian Kelly scoring six.
Outside of the Walsh brothers, John Kehoe and Mark Brennan Carlow were outclassed by a Donegal side who, on this form, must rank as favourites to win the Division Two title.
DONEGAL: P Durcan; T Donoghue, N McGee, D Diver (0-1, free); McGlynn, E McGee, K Cassidy; B Boyle, S McDermott, C Toye (0-2); K Bonnar (0-1), C Dunne (0-1); A Sweeney (0-5), J Gallagher (1-5), M Doherty (0-5). Subs: P McNulty for Sweeney, S Friel for Doherty, G McGuire for Cassidy, N Gallagher for Boyle, A Thompson (0-1) for McDermott.
CARLOW: J Brennan; C McCarthy, D Byrne, T Smith; B Hannon, J Kehoe, J Ryan (0-1); P Walsh, T Walsh; P Hickey, M Brennan, J Fitzgerald; B Carbery (0-1, free), J Byrne, B Kelly (0-6, frees). Subs: G McGill for J Brennan, P Fitzgerald for Hannon, A Kelly for Hickey, A O'Brien for J Fitzgerald.
Referee: B Tyrell (Tipperary).
Duignan seals win
Leitrim 2-7 Clare 0-6: A two-goal haul from substitute Darren Duignan between the 58th and 62nd minutes set up Leitrim for victory over Clare in Carrick-on-Shannon yesterday.
The Leitrim forwards had no difficulty in finding scores as apart from Duignan another Duignan, Ciarán, added to his growing reputation with a six-point tally, five from play while Declan Maxwell assisted in both goals and also scored a point.
LEITRIM: C McCrann; D Reynolds, J McKeon, M McGuinness; D McHugh, B McWeeney, S Foley; G McCloskey, C Carroll; J Goldrick, B Prior, M Foley; C Regan, D Maxwell (0-1), C Duignan (0-6, one free). Subs: D Duignan (2-0) for J Goldrick, D McKiernan for C Duignan, S Canning for G McCloskey.
CLARE: D O'Brien; L Healy, D Kelly, P Gallagher, K Dilleen, R Slattery (0-1, free), G Kelly, B Considine, F O'Dea, E Coughlan, M O'Shea, A Clohessy (0-2, one 45), R Donnelly (0-2, one free), R Kane, M O'Dwyer. Subs: B Dillon (0-1) for R Kane, N Considine for R Donnelly, D Blake for G Kelly, J Dowling for M O'Shea.
Referee: Martin Sludden (Tyrone).
