Mayo 3-07 Roscommon 1-13
A free from man-of-the-match Shane McGinley earned Roscommon a share of the spoils after a pulsating Connacht Under-20 Football Championship first-round clash at Dr Hyde Park.
Such an outcome had seemed highly unlikely when Mayo scored three goals in the first quarter to race into a seven-points lead, but the homeside battled back to level the game for the first time in the final minute of normal time.
Noel Dunning's well-drilled young Roscommon team actually outscored the visitors by 0-12 to 0-5 in the final 50 minutes of the match and dominated possession in the second half.
But Mayo managed to keep them at bay until the closing stages, and were left to rue a missed goal chance from substitute Brendan Collins in the 50th minute.
Instead it was Roscommon’s top scorer Shane McGinley, who finished with 1-8, who stole the headlines as he converted a free to equalise in the 60th minute.
Mayo had led at the end of a high-scoring first half by 3-3 to 1-5.
They had also got off to a flying start with a goal from Niall Hurley after only nine minutes while points from Hurley and Darragh Beirne (free) topping up their advantage.
Roscommon opened their account after 12 minutes with a neat effort from the aforementioned Shane McGinley, and the corner-forward then grabbed a goal from close-range two minutes later.
The cheers had barely died down though when Mayo hit back with a brilliant goal from Finbarr McLaughlin in the 15th minute and Darragh Beirne then flicked in Mayo’s third green flag of the evening two minutes later.
This left the visitors ahead by 3-2 to 1-1 at the end of the first quarter.
It was at this stage of the game that Roscommon really warmed to their task and five points in the second quarter from McGinley (3, two frees and a '45) and Bobby Nugent (2) had them right back in contention at the break.
The Rossies kept the pressure on after the restart but Mayo kept them at arm’s length thanks to a couple of well-taken points from substitute Oisín Cronin to lead by 3-7 to 1-9 after 45 minutes.
Remarkably though the pre-match favourites failed to score again and Roscommon finished strongly with four points in a row from Bobby Nugent (free), Ryan Conlon and the prolific Shane McGinley (two frees) to leave the teams deadlocked at the final whistle.
Both teams finished the match with 14 players after late black cards for Mayo goalkeeper David Dolan and Roscommon full-back Dan Casey after separate incidents.
Mayo: D Dolan (0-1, ‘45); D Slattery, J MacMonagle, L Silke; J Mulchrone, P Gilmore, Y Coghill; D Duffy, C Dawson; F McLaughlin (1-0), C Keaveney, T O’Flaherty; D Beirne (1-2, 2fs), N Hurley (1-2), D Reilly.
Subs used: E McGreal for Coghill (33); O Cronin (0-2) for Reilly (35); T Lydon for McLaughlin (inj, 40); B Collins for Mulchrone (45); D O’Brien for Dawson (inj, 60).
Roscommon: S Allen; J Brady, D Casey, T Morris; J McGreal, S Lambe, E Carthy; C Ryan, S Walsh; D Hagney, D Flanagan, R Heneghan; S McGinley (1-5, 3fs, ‘45), B Nugent (0-2), R Hester
Subs used: E Kerins for Flanagan (27); R Conlon (0-1) for Hagney (27); C Harley for Brady (HT); R Dowling (0-1) for Hester (42); O O’Flaherty for Ryan (50).Referee: J Gilmartin (Sligo)
Galway 2-16 Leitrim 0-13
Galway began their Connacht Under-20 Football Championship with a nine-point victory over Leitrim at Duggan Park in Ballinasloe.
They led by 1-09 to 0-07 at half-time, Jack Folan firing home an excellent goal to ensure his team held a five-point advantage.
Leitrim refused to lie down, battling throughout to keep the Tribesmen honest, but Colm Costello's haul of 0-10 and Matthew Thompson's late goal ultimately made this a comfortable win for Derek Savage's team.
Tyrone 0-11 Down 1-08
A second-half comeback earned Tyrone an 0-11 to 1-08 draw against Down in the Ulster Under-20 FC at The Dub at Queen's Sport in Belfast.
The defending provincial champions led the sluggish Red Hands by 1-04 to 0-02 at the interval, with Donal Scullion grabbing the goal in the 26th minute despite Down having only 14 men on the field after the loss of the black-carded David Ruddy.
The momentum shifted after the restart, and Down were authors of their own downfall, as they adopted an extremely defensive game plan.
Conor Owens contributed two early points in the second half and a later score from Cormac Devlin reduced the Down lead to a single point.
Jamie Doran restored Down's buffer to two points, but Owens and substitute Callum Daly ensured the sides ended level.
Monaghan 2-08 Antrim 1-06
In the evening's other Ulster Under-20 FC game, Monaghan had too much for Antrim in Castleblayney.
They were 1-03 to 0-04 up at half-time thanks to Bobby McCaul's goal in the 16th minute.
It was nip and tuck in the second period, with a Jonny Hannon maximum for Antrim reducing the deficit to two points. However Kian Duffy went up the other end of the field to rattle the net again for Monaghan and that sealed the deal.
Listen to the RTÉ GAA Podcast on the RTÉ Radio Player, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts
