ROSCOMMON...1-10 SLIGO...0-13: They were slow to wipe clean the scoreboard in Hyde Park, the disbelief at this result taking a few moments to lift. This game that could have gone either way as easily as the dealing of the last card, and in the end was left undecided. To be continued on Sligo's home ground next Saturday evening.
On reflection, Roscommon probably won't mind the extra trip. With the very last kick they'd a chance to win it and Frankie Dolan, of all people, sent the free wide. Yet having gone the last 27 minutes without a score and finishing with 15 wides they can hardly feel hard done by.
Sligo looked like down-and-outs after the first half and then reinvented themselves as that fearless army last seen coming through the qualifier route two years ago. They outscored Roscommon 0-7 to 0-2 in the second half and ended with just four wides. To lose out after such a hard assault on their opposition might have killed their season.
It between all that the football was hard, even the shadows colliding with players. The pace was constantly breathtaking, even if the quality of football wasn't always, and no one amongst the 15,000 crowd wanted a refund despite the lack of a result.
The whole circus will happily travel to Markievicz Park on Saturday.
What is certain, too, is both managers will have some uneasy nights' sleep this week, Roscommon's Tom Carr wondering why the wheels slowly fell off and Sligo's James Kearins why such a shimmering fightback was needed in the first place.
"No, we didn't play well," admitted Kearins. "Certainly not well enough to win. We never took the game on, and allowed Séamus O'Neill to get a real grip on midfield. We regained some control towards the end, but when you're a point down with time up you have to be happy with a draw."
Carr was in similarly philosophical mood: "The main thing for me is we're still in the Connacht championship after this. I thought it might be with a win, but a draw is better than a defeat."
Sligo's most optimistic moment came during the opening exchanges. Seán Davey won the throw-in and two stops later Michael McNamara had the first score. But they would never lead again. Within minutes O'Neill and Stephen Lohan were controlling midfield like ringmasters. There was only one tactic working and that was Roscommon's.
Within minutes, too, there were clear signs Dolan had brought his dancing boots. A sweetly struck 45-metre opened his total of 0-7 and bar that unfortunate miss at the end - readily kickable from 35 metres out but sent left of the posts - he'd have been dancing all night too.
Dolan's work-rate was also excellent, he was frequently to be seen dropping back to midfield. From there he sparked the game's only goal, setting Lohan up for the perfect pass to Karol Mannion. His shot flew like a cannon ball and Roscommon were up 1-2 to 0-1 after eight minutes.
From there to half-time they hardly stopped to breathe. O'Neill had turned midfield into a solo exhibition and Dineen and Mannion helped convert his possession. Gary Maye and Davey were being buried alive, and something had to give.
Sligo were soon down 1-5 to 0-2; the running repairs were imminent.
Before half time, then, Eamonn O'Hara made the all-so-vital switch to midfield. Maye went to full forward (without much success) and McNamara came back to left-half forward. But O'Hara's repositioning worked a treat, allowing him to draw fully on his remarkable reserves of energy and drive.
Dessie Sloyan and Gerry McGowan were gradually showing their faces too. Still Sligo were making hard work of it, their options frequently backfiring or just going backwards. Mark Brehony got one of the better points from play to partly stem Roscommon's dominance.
When they turned around and Sligo trailed 1-8 to 0-6 the talk was still all about Roscommon's dominance. The second goal they looked like getting would have sealed it and their only real concern of the first half was the injury loss of David Casey, who later required 13 stitches in a forehead wound.
What happened in the second half is not so easily assessed. Sligo appeared to benefit slightly more from the referee's whistle but that certainly doesn't account for the cracks that appeared in the Roscommon ranks.
O'Neill seemed to run out of steam but they were still bubbling with class - Dolan most of all. Mannion could have had a second goal on 45 minutes but instead Dolan sent the resulting 45 clean through the posts. That - almost fatally - was their last score.
Four points in quick succession brought Sligo right back into the game, the last a typically cool free from Sloyan. So they'd closed it to the minimum, 1-10 to 0-12, and with 16 minutes left to play suddenly the game was anyone's.
What destroyed Roscommon's chances was their wide count, which they hiked up like the price of petrol. Gary Cox took their second last free which could also have sneaked over but it fell short. On exactly 70 minutes then, Davey saw his choice and tied it - affording himself a raised fist in the process.
The two minutes of added time was played out in a whirlwind. Every ball was 50-50 and as the seconds wound down it seemed the game would be too. Patrick Naughton won't mind admitting it now but he was guilty of the late, late foul. Dolan appeared calm but championship pressure works in mysterious ways. And he missed
"It wasn't about that last kick," added Carr. "We snatched at too many scores, which showed a little bit of panic. And I don't think we played particularly well, even in the first half. The game wasn't always the most fluid. Still our defenders did well. And I mean if we can win in Markievicz next Saturday that'll be an even bigger bonus."
ROSCOMMON: 1 S Curran; 2 J Whyte, 3 M Ryan, 4 J Nolan; 5 D Casey, 6 F Grehan, 7 J Rogers; 8 S O'Neill (0-1), 9 S Lohan; 10 G Cox, 11 N Dineen (0-1), 12 Connellan; 13 G Heneghan, 14 K Mannion (1-1), 15 F Dolan (0-7, three frees, two 45s). Subs: 17 P Noone for Casey (24 mins, inj), 22 J Tiernan for Connellan (49 mins), 24 J Egan for Heneghan (60), 20 B Higgins for O'Neill (63).
SLIGO: 1 P Greene; 2 N McGuire, 3 P Naughton, 4 B Philips; 5 J Martyn, 6 M Langan, 7 P Gallagher; 8 G Maye, 9 S Davey (0-2); 10 K Quinn, 11 M Brehony (0-2), 12 E O'Hara; 13 D Sloyan (0-5, all frees), 14 M McNamara (0-1), 15 G McGowan (0-3, one free). Subs: 18 P Doohan for Gallagher (30 mins), 19 B Curran for Quinn (46), 20 P Neary for Maye (63), J Davey for McGowan (70).
Referee: J McQuillan (Cavan)
