A breathtaking encounter at Carrick-on-Shannon ended with Roscommon snatching a draw at the end of normal time and then just about holding off a late Leitrim surge in extra time last night. It sets up a home semi-final clash with Galway next Wednesday.
Two early goals from Mark Diffley and another from Jordan Reynolds gave Leitrim a 3-4 to 1-5 half-time lead, and when Oisín Bohan picked out the bottom corner in the 41st minute, Leitrim looked wellset for victory, with the wind at their backs.
Great scores from Ronan Dowd and Daire Keenan allied to a superb solo goal from Paul Carey dragged Roscommon back into it, and Carey’s free in the 6th minute of stoppage time sent the game into an extra 20 minutes.
James Fitzpatrick’s goal and points from Dylan Ruane and Carey pushed Roscommon five up in extra-time before Leitrim rallied one last time, but to no avail.
Scorers for Roscommon: R Dowd 1-7 (0-5f), P Carey 1-4 (0-2f), D Keenan 0-3, J Fitzpatrick 1-0, D Ruane 0-2, B Derwin 0-1.
Scorers for Leitrim: M Diffley 2-4 (1-0 pen, 0-3f), J Reynolds & O Bohan 1-1 each, J Gilheaney 0-3 (0-1f), C Cullen 0-2 each, J Clancy & A Hoare 0-1 each.
ROSCOMMON:
R Kearney; E Killoran, E Flynn, R Dolan; M Conroy, N Higgins, G Galvin; P Fannon, P Halpin; D Keenan, R Dowd, T O’Rourke; B Derwin, P Carey, D Ruane.
Subs used: S Hanly for Conroy (23, bc), J Hester for O’Rourke (HT), J Fitzpatrick for Derwin (HT), C Corcoran for Fannon (47), C Lawless for Keenan (50), A Brady for Kearney (FT), J Keane (FT, Ros back to 15), A Lyons for Carey (69), Derwin for Ruane (HT in ET), R Donoghue for Killoran (75).
LEITRIM:
S Reynolds; S Chandler, F Earley, L Rowley; C Cullen, C O’Dwyer, R O’Rourke; A Hoare, J Gilheaney; P Keaney, M Diffley, S Harkin; J Reynolds, T Prior, J Clancy.
Subs used: O Bohan for O’Rourke (16, bc), D Kellegher for J Reynolds (53), E Harkin for Prior (60), J Barnes for Cullen (69), M Keegan for Keaney (69), D Maguire for Clancy (71) Referee: P Lydon (Mayo)
