Roscommon 1-13 Cavan 1-10

Cavan’s hopes of remaining in Division 1 were killed off in an entertaining clash at Hyde Park when a Roscommon side, who were already relegated, picked up their first points of the campaign.

The sides were level at 0-08 at the break before Cavan enjoyed a great start to the second-half when Dara McVeety found the net.

But the Roscommon response was excellent with Cathal Compton shooting home an equalising goal inside a minute and they never trailed from there to the end.

The sides were level six times in an entertaining opening half and went in deadlocked at 0-08 each with never more than two points between the sides.

Cavan, needing to win to have any chance of survival, led by 0-04 to 0-02 at the end of the opening quarter but efforts from Niall Kilroy and Sean McDermott saw Roscommon draw level.

The sides continued to exchange points to the interval, with six Cavan players finding the target while Roscommon had seven different scorers.

The second-half exploded into action with McVeety hitting the net from close range for Cavan less than two minutes after the restart.

Roscommon, however, did not fold and they struck back immediately with Compton showing good composure to fire home a goal straight away.

And Kevin McStay’s men never looked back from there. They were the only side in the entire league without a point going into the final round of games and were clearly determined to rectify that.

They hit three good points in succession to take a firm grip on the match with Diarmuid Murtgh, Kilroy with his third effort and Ciaran Murtagh with another free, putting them 1-11 to 1-08 in front after 55 minutes.

Gearoid McKiernan responded with a pointed free for Cavan to cut the gap with ten minutes remaining but they struggled to create chances and faded.

Thomas Corcoran and Conor Devaney extended Roscommon’s lead to four going into the closing stages.

Another free from McKiernan reduced the margin to three but Cavan never looked like getting the goal required to save the day and these two sides will meet again next year in the league but this time in Division 2.

Roscommon: C Lavin; D Murray, G Patterson, N McInerney; S McDermott (0-01), U Harney, C Devaney (0-02); T O’Rourke, E Smith; N Kilroy (0-03), C Murtagh (0-02, 0-02 free), D Smith (0-01); D Murtagh (0-02, 0-02 free), C Compton (1-00), C Connolly (0-01).
Subs: S Killoran for Patterson (35 mins), B Stack for D Smith (50 mins), R Stack for McDermott (60 mins), T Corcoran (0-01) for Connolly (60 mins).

Cavan: R Galligan (0-01, 0-01 free); K Brady, R Dunne, F Reilly; M Reilly (0-01), C Moynagh, C Brady (0-01); T Carr, K Clarke; G Smith, G McKiernan, D (0-02, 0-02 free), McVeety (1-01); N Murray, J Dillon (0-01), N McDemott (0-03, 0-02 free).
Subs: C Mackey for G Smith (35 mins), N Clerin for Dillon (46 mins), N Clerkin for Carr (50 mins), J Brady for McDermott (58 mins), J McEnroe for C Brady (60 mins), C Madden for Murray (65 mins).

Referee: C Brannagan (Down).