Roscommon 1-17
Cavan 0-18
ROSCOMMON TRAILED CAVAN for 40 minutes at Croke Park before their scoring power proved enough to capture them the Allianz Football League Division 3 trophy.
Cavan kept the foot down after a fifth minute penalty miss and led 0-7 to 0-2 after 15 minutes. The scoreline could have been worse for the Rossies but goalkeeper Darren O’Malley dived the right way to tip Martin Dunne’s penalty wide. Donie Shine, who scored six points, prompted a first-half comeback before Cavan struck back through Dunne and Eugene Keating.
Roscommon found themselves right back in the tie on 33 minutes, however, as David Keenan produced a mazy run, skipped past three defenders and chipped Conor Gilsenan for a goal. Whether he meant the goal or not is a question best left to the half-back:
Roscommon came out flying in the second half only for Cavan scores from Cian Mackey and Niall McDermott halted their momentum. Shine added two frees midway through the half to edge his county in front.
Cavan brought on a raft of substitutes as they looked to find a way back into the final. Mackey levelled matters on 57 minutes but the Rossies upped the ante in the final 10 minutes to win by two points in the end.
Scorers for Roscommon: Donie Shine 0-6 (0-4f, 0-1 ’45), Senan Kilbride 0-5 (0-3f), David Keenan 1-0, Niall Daly 0-2, Kevin Higgins, Colin Compton, David O’Gara, Finbar Cregg 0-1 each.
Scorers for Cavan: Niall McDermott 0-4, Martin Reilly (0-1 ’45), Martin Dunne 0-3 each, Gearoid McKiernan, Cian Mackey, Eugene Keating 0-2 each, James McEnroe, Feargal Flanagan.
ROSCOMMON: Darren O’Malley; Seanie McDermott, Niall Carty, Neil Collins; David Keenan, Niall Daly, Ciaran Cafferkey; Cathal Shine, Kevin Higgins; David O’Gara, Donie Shine, Darragh Donnelly; Senan Kilbride, Cathal Cregg, Ciaran Murtagh.
Subs: Ronan Stack for Donnelly (33), Colin Compton for Murtagh (57), Michael Finneran for O’Gara (60), Finbarr Cregg for Shine (inj) (64), Craig Burns for Higgins (70).
CAVAN: Conor Gilsenan; Joshua Hayes, Rory Dunne, Feargal Flanagan; James McEnroe, Alan Clarke, Damien O’Reilly; Gearoid McKiernan, Killian Brady; Cian Mackey, Niall McDermott, Martin Reilly; Jack Brady, Martin Dunne, Eugene Keating.
Subs: Killian Clarke for Killian Brady (26), Michael Argue for McEnroe (50), Michael Lyng for Jack Brady (53), Robert Maloney-Derham for Clarke (64), David Givney for Lyng (69), Kevin Tierney for Keating (69).
Referee: Sean Hurson (Tyrone)
