An injury-time point from Roscommon corner forward David O'Gara sent this afternoon's All-Ireland minor football final to a replay, as the Connacht champions grabbed a pulsating 0-15 to 0-15 draw with Kerry.
Having weathered Kerry’s early storm, Roscommon looked to be heading for their first title at this grade in 55 years at Croke Park.
But top-scorer and captain Paddy Curran (0-08) put the Kingdom a point clear before O'Gara dramatically levelled the tie for the seventh time.
Kerry led 0-08 to 0-06 at the break with Curran contributing four points.
During dominant spells either side of half-time, the Rossies hit eight successive points with Conor Devaney (0-05) and Donal Shine (0-06) on song.
From being 0-08 to 0-03 behind, the Rossies' positive possession play pulled them 0-11 to 0-08 clear and in sight of a surprise victory.
Two Curran points, and another from substitute Patrick Curtin, had the green and gold level by the 47th-minute and the sides shared out the closing eight points to set up a second day out.
John Kennedy’s side, bidding to claim Kerry’s first minor championship since 1994, got off to a rather inauspicious start as they sent four shots wide of Mark Miley's goal in the opening six minutes.
Conor Devaney showed a good deal of purpose to flight over Roscommon's opener after four minutes, but Tommy Walsh's early dominance at centre-field soon paid dividends for Kerry.
Walsh played in Curran for his first point, the Kerry skipper then teed up Daniel O'Shea for a fisted effort and two more Curran points had his side 0-04 to 0-01 in front.
A beautifully curled free from wing forward Shine cut the gap to two, yet Kerry's ability to take their scores was painfully obvious when Curran, Eoin Kennedy - the son of the manager - and Garry Sayers all pointed for a 0-07 to 0-02 score line.
Lesser sides would have crumbled under that sort of pressure, but this Roscommon outfit, although not laden down with stars, worked hard and it was that instinct that saw them turnaround for the second half just two points in arrears.
Keith Waldron fired over, just seconds after coming on for Roscommon, and while David Moran, the son of Kerry legend Ogie, replied with a 45, Fergal O'Donnell's charges turned on the style before the break with three excellent points.
Somehow, despite Walsh's prominence in midfield and Curran's elegant kicking, Kerry were only two points in front as Shine (0-02) and Devaney made it 0-08 to 0-06.
With the stadium filling up in advance of the senior final, Mayo supporters began to get behind the hard-grafting Rossies with scores from Fintan Cregg, Shine (0-02), Devaney and O'Gara lighting up what was already an entertaining clash.
Kerry waited 14 minutes of the second half to add to their tally with the ever-willing Curran sending over a free. A Kennedy offload then set up Curtin for a score and Curran then notched his sixth point as he levelled the game for a third time at 0-11 apiece.
In a climactic finish, Walsh, Devaney (0-02), Curran (0-02), Shine, Moran and O’Gara all traded scores - the Rossies had led 0-14 to 0-13 as the game entered injury-time.
Waldron drew a foul for Devaney to notch the westerners' 14th point, yet Kerry bounced back and were put in pole position when Moran right-footed over and from a lacklustre kick-out by Miley, Curran pounced to send his men ahead.
O'Gara though, had the final say as with three minutes of injury-time played, he collected a Shine free which had dropped short, and dinked the ball over to uphold his county's fine record of never having lost an All-Ireland MFC final – this being their fourth appearance in a minor decider since 1939.
Kerry: T Mac an tSaoir; S Browne, M Moloney, D Ó Sé; S Enright, A Greaney, B Costello; T Walsh (0-01), G O'Driscoll; J Buckley, D O'Shea (0-01), D Moran (0-02 (1 ‘45’)); G Sayers (0-01), P Curran (capt) (0-08 (2f)), E Kennedy (0-01).
Subs used: P Curtin (0-01) for O’Shea (35 mins), J Doolan for Sayers (51), W Devane for Buckley (58), R Ághas for Browne (60+2).
Yellow cards: Walsh (7 mins), Russell (33), Moran (39), Enright (57), O’Driscoll (60+2).
Roscommon: M Miley; P Gleeson, M McLoughlin, S Ormsby; P Domican, D Flynn (captain), C Garvey; D Keenan, K Higgins; C Devaney (0-05 (1f)), J McKeague, D Shine (0-06 (4f)); P Garvey, F Cregg (0-01), D O'Gara (0-02).
Subs used: N Carty for McLoughlin (20 mins), K Waldron (0-01) for Higgins (22), S Russell for Gleeson (36), A O’Hara for Garvey (49), C Smith for McKeague (55)
Referee: Syl Doyle (Wexford).
