Sligo left to rue start of semi final
found the going tough early on against a Roscommon side that played in the All-Ireland U-17 final in 2017.
Sligo eventually opened their account through an Alan Reilly point after 21 minutes, but two further Roscommon scores from Cian Murray and Keith Doyle established an eight-point gap at 1-6 to 0-1 as the first half approached added time.
Sligo’s lifeline came via a penalty for a foul on Joe Keaney in the 33rd minute, and it was subsequently converted by captain Red Óg Murphy to leave his side five points in arrears at the break, 1-6 to 1-1.
Roscommon, however, managed to extend the cushion out to seven points, 1-10 to 1-3, with ten minutes of the second half to go as Sligo failed to make any real impact on proceedings in the first 20 minutes after half-time.
Eoghan Smith and Shane Deignan kicked the Sligo scores in this period, but it wasn’t until the closing stages that the Yeats men applied the real pressure.
Despite losing the hard-working Joe Keaney to a second yellow card after 55 minutes, Sligo showed real desire to get back into the match as full-time approached.
Substitute Gavin Duffy came off the bench to kick two points – one from play, the other from a mark – while Red Óg Murphy also raised two white flags with frees as Sligo closed the gap.
Conor Murray also found range in this period, but Roscommon added a point at the other end too to ease the pressure and keep Sligo at bay as the county missed out on a place in the provincial final.
SLIGO: D Lyons; J Lavin, E Lyons, K O’Hara; S Carroll, C Surlis, E Sweeney; G Gorman, R Óg
Murphy (1-2, 0-2fs); S Deignan, E Smith (0-1), C Murray (0-2); B Cafferky, A Reilly (0-1), J Keaney. Subs used: J Carroll, G Duffy (0-2, 0-1 mark), N Murphy, O McCann. ROSCOMMON: M O’Donnell; P Frost, C Walsh, D Gaughan; C Murray (0-1), N Higgins, P McGrath; K Doyle (0-1), C Lawless (0-2, 0-2 45s); R Fallon, P McManus, P Carey (0-2, 1f); A McDermott (1-1, 0-1fs), D Walsh (0-1), P Gilooly (0-2, 0-2fs). Subs used: R Dolan, A Lyons (0-1, 0-1 mark), J Martin, D Summer, C Sugrue. REFEREE: T Murphy (Galway).