Clare 2-12

Roscommon 1-9

Clare's fairytale season continued at Pearse Stadium this afternoon when first half goals from David Tubridy and Jamie Malone propelled them to a six-point victory over Roscommon and a place in the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals for the very first time.

The Banner are Croke Park bound for the second time this year, having already beaten Kildare there in April's Allianz League Division 3 final, after another confident and courageous display against a team whose impressive performances in Division 1 last spring are but a distant memory at this stage. The psychological scars of last Sunday's crushing Connacht SFC final replay loss to Galway were clear for all to see as the Rossies became the latest in a long list of teams to fall victim to the six-day turnaround.

Buoyed by backdoor wins over Laois and Sligo, Clare had all the momentum coming into this game and it showed as they built up a 2-6 to 0-7 interval lead after playing against the wind in the first half. An Enda Smith goal, followed by a Ciaran Murtagh free, cut the margin to two points with 10 minutes to go, but Clare - who lost midfielder Cathal O'Connor to a red card at the start of the second half - refused to panic and scored five of the last six points to secure a famous win.

In a game which had a nasty undercurrent, Roscommon also finished with 14 players after Sean Mullooly was dismissed on a second yellow card midway through the second half, while fellow full back David Murray was black-carded in stoppage time.

It was end-to-end early on as the wind-assisted Rossies opened up a two-point lead thanks to scores from Enda Smith and Ciaran Murtagh, only for Clare to reply with a Gary Brennan point and the opening goal from Tubridy in the fifth minute. A Murtagh brace had the sides level after 12 minutes before Colm Collins' charges restored their two-point advantage, 1-3 to 0-4, with scores from Dean Ryan, who fisted over, and Tubridy.

It was all-square again when Donie Shine and Mullooly split the posts, but the Division 3 champions never looked back after Eoin Cleary edged them in front again, 1-4 to 0-6, in the 21^st minute.

Jamie Malone put them four clear when he stepped inside his man and hammered home a second goal two minutes later. Turbidy (free) and Cleary extended the Clare lead before a Niall Kilroy point left five in it at the break.

Despite having O'Connor sent off for a high challenge on Niall Daly moments after the restart, the Banner surged seven clear through scores from Cleary (free) and Tubridy. Roscommon lost half-time sub Kevin Higgins to a black card before the winners were also dealt a blow when Tubridy was forced to retire injured.

His replacement Podge Collins was immediately in the thick of things as a foul by Mullooly on the dual star led to the Roscommon full back receiving his second yellow card.

Clare's failure to turn possession into scores looked like it would come back to haunt them when Enda Smith capitalised on a defensive mix-up to fire past Joe Hayes and leave just a goal between the sides with 15 minutes remaining. The Roscommon support was given further cause for optimism when Murtagh's free reduced the deficit to two.

But Clare stayed calm as a late tackle on Jamie Malone resulted in a tap-over free for Cleary from the 20-metre line. Further points from experienced sub Shane McGrath and Cleary had them five up, 2-10 to 1-8, before Conor Devaney blasted a goal chance over at the start of seven minutes of injury-time.

Roscommon were already a beaten docket before Murray receiving his marching orders as a late Cleary brace sealed the deal.

Clare - J Hayes; S Hickey, K Harnett, M McMahon; C O'Dea, G Kelly, D Ryan (0-1); G Brennan (0-1), C O'Connor; J Malone (1-0), S Collins, P Lillis; E Cleary (0-6, 2f, 1'45), D Tubridy (1-2, 0-1f), K Sexton. Subs: P Collins for D Tubridy, S McGrath (0-1) for P Lillis, E Coughlan for K Sexton, S Malone (0-1) for S Collins, P Burke for E Cleary, D Burke for J Malone.

Roscommon - D O'Malley; S McDermott, S Mullooly (0-1), N McInerney; J McManus, N Daly, D Murray; C Compton, D Keenan; U Harney, N Kilroy (0-1f), E Smith (1-1); C Cregg, D Shine (0-1f), C Murtagh (0-3f). Subs: T Corcoran for C Compton, K Higgins for U Harney, C Connolly for C Murtagh, D Murtagh (0-1f) for C Cregg, C Devaney (0-1) for K Higgins (BC), F Cregg for D Shine.

Referee - P Hughes.

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