Roscommon 0-15 Galway 2-14
Galway retained the FBD League Connacht league crown in an entertaining final at Kiltoom.
Goals in either half from Cillian McDaid and Danny Cummins were the key scores as Galway finished with 13 men and Roscommon with 14 in an enjoyable encounter.
The match will serve both teams well as they open their league campaigns next weekend with Roscommon away to Tyrone, while Galway will host Cork.
Galway, bidding for their eighth FBD League crown, led by 1-08 to 0-08 at the end of the opening half with McDaid firing home the decisive score when he drilled the ball to the net after 19 minutes after good work by Sean Armstrong and Paul Conroy.
Roscommon had started well with points from Donie Smith, Cian Connolly, Fintan Cregg and Ciarain Murtagh opening up a 0-04 to 0-01 lead after 13 minutes but Galway settled after that with wing-back Johnny Heaney superb, crowning a fine display with three points from play during the game.
Galway pushed on after McDaid’s goal with points from Tom Flynn and impressive newcomer Barry McHugh to lead by 1-05 to 0-05 after 22 minutes.
The teams exchanged points three times in the closing stages of the opening to leave it 1-08 to 0-08 at the break, with the impressive Donie Smith and McDaid also swapping points in the opening five minutes of the second-half.
But then Galway struck for their second goal when Flynn burst through and Cummins supplied the finish from close range to lead by 2-09 to 0-09 after 43 minutes.
Smith led the Roscommon revival with three excellent points before Galway were reduced to 14 men when defender Declan Kyne picked up a second yellow card after 56 minutes.
McHugh pointed another long-range free to extend Galway’s lead to four before goalkeeper Ruairi Lavelle did superbly to deny Roscommon substitute Niall Daly from point blank range less than a minute after he came on.
Niall Kilroy reduced the margin to a goal five minutes from time, the Tribesmen finished strongly with a string of points to retain their crown at the end of a good contest.
Cummins, Johnny Duane, Barry McHugh and captain Gary O’Donnell found the range to seal the win with Conor Devaney and Kevin Higgins shooting consolation points for the home side.
Both teams lost men to black cards with the full complement of subs on the field with Enda Smith and Cummins getting their marching orders.
Galway: R Lavelle; L Burke, D Walsh, D Kyne; G O’Donnell (0-02), G Bradshaw, J Heaney (0-03); F O Curraoin, M Day; T Flynn (0-01), P Conroy, C McDaid (1-01); D Cummins (1-01, 0-1f), B McHugh (0-06, 0-02f), S Armstrong.
Subs: P Cooke for O Curraoin (bc 50), D Wynne for McDaid (58), F Hanley for Wynne (65), P Varley for Armstrong (67), P Mannion for Day (70), C Sweeney for Heaney (70).
Roscommon: D O’Malley; S McDermott (0-01), T Featherson, N McInerney; R Stack, S Mullolly, J McManus; T Corcoran, T O’Rourke; F Cregg (0-01), C Murtagh (0-02, 0-01f), S Killoran; C Connolly (0-01), U Harney, D Smith (0-07, 0-03f).
Subs: E Smith for Cregg (half-time); D Murray for McManus (half-time); C Devaney (0-01) for Killoran (half-time), N Kilroy for Connolly (52), K Higgins (0-01) for Corcoran (52), N Daly for D Smith (60).
Referee: L Devenney (Mayo)
