By Declan Rooney at Cusack Park
Westmeath 0-12 Roscommon 2-13
Four points from second-half substitute Diarmuid Murtagh and goals from Conor Daly and Senan Kilbride sealed Roscommon's promotion to Division 1 after a seven-point win over Westmeath at Cusack Park.
Just a point separated the sides at the break, but a brilliant second period from John Evans' side saw them to the victory, and to their second successive promotion by virtue of their head-to-head record with Meath.
Less than 24 hours after their successful Connacht U-21 final Ultan Harney, Diarmuid Murtagh and Enda Smith all made massive impacts off the bench against Westmeath, who were relegated to Division 3.
Roscommon's Seanie McDermott received a straight red card in injury time, and will miss out on the league final against Down.
The Rossies led 0-06 to 0-05 at the break, but showed some flashed of real brilliance after the restart to power to a memorable victory.
After dominating the first-half for long stretches John Evans must have wondered how his side only led by a point at the break.
At times Roscommon's movement in the forward line seemed to bewilder Westmeath, but their half-time tally of ten wides meant they failed to pull clear of their hosts.
Senan Kilbride was proving a dominant figure at full-forward and after Ciaran Murtagh got the Rossies off the mark in the fourth minute, Kilbride was involved in the next three scores for Conor Daly, Ciaran Murtagh and Fintan Kelly as Roscommon opened out a 0-04 to 0-00 lead after 15 minutes.
But as Roscommon began to kick wide after wide, Westmeath slowly worked their way into the game. Playing at full-forward John Heslin got them off the mark in the 16th minute, and skipper Ger Egan finished off a patient move to half Roscommon's lead by the 19th minute.
The introduction of Shane Dempsey made a huge difference for Westmeath and he kicked a brilliant point in the 26th minute to put just a point between the sides.
Ciaran Murtagh added a quick-fire brace to give Roscommon a 0-06 to 0-03 lead, but Westmeath finished the half the stronger, and Heslin and Dempsey landed points to put the minimum between the sides at the interval.
Conor Daly's rattled the net three minutes after the restart to give Roscommon a comfortable lead, and with Diarmuid Murtagh and Senan Kilbride impressive up front, Roscommon took control.
Westmeath had to rely on frees from John Heslin to keep in touch and once Kilbride goaled nine minutes from time, there was no stopping their charge to the top flight.
Westmeath: D Quinn; M McCallon, K Maguire, D Lynch; J Egan, J Gilligan, K Daly; P Holloway, G Egan (0-01); K Martin, R Connellan, P Sharry; J Stapleton, J Heslin (0-07, 0-06f), J Connellan.
Subs: R Foley (0-01)for Sharry (10 mins), S Dempsey (0-02) for Stapleton (22), D Glennon (0-01) for J Connellan (ht), B Slevin for Martin (43-48min blood), B Slevin for R Connellan (48), L Smith for Foley (64).
Roscommon: D O'Malley; S McDermott, N Carty, N Collins; C Cafferkey, N Daly (1-01), D Keenan; C Shine, F Kelly (0-01); C Daly, C Murtagh (0-03, 0-02f), M Healy; D Smith (0-01), S Kilbride (1-00), C Cregg
Subs: D Murray for Collins (8-11min blood), D Murtagh (0-04, 0-01f) for D Smith (26), K Higgins (0-01) for C Murtagh (h-t), E Smith for Kelly (h-t), U Harney (0-01) for Healy (56), R Stack for Cafferkey (58), C Compton (0-01, 0-01f) for E Smith (BC 66).
Referee: Fergal Kelly (Longford).
