Donegal 0-16
Roscommon 2-9

Eoin McHugh provided the injury-time winner as Donegal edged Roscommon in a thrilling finish at Dr Hyde Park this afternoon.

Rory Gallagher's side dealt with the concession of a 66th minute goal from Conor Devaney to patiently tee up McHugh late on and snatch what could prove to be a priceless win to preserve their Division 1 status.

Roscommon had led by Ciaran Murtagh's deflected goal at half-time and came back twice against a spirited Tir Chonaill side in the second-half, with the latter one looking to have earned them a draw.

However, the contributions of Martin O'Reilly and McHugh proved salient for the winners late on and the latter stepped up to the plate brilliantly when called upon.

Michael Murphy's free had the visitors up and running inside two minutes before Ciaran Thompson doubled their advantage with a fine effort.

Fintan Cregg's fisted point had the Rossies off the mark after five minutes and although Paddy McBrearty widened the gap back to two the game would be level within three minutes thanks to back-to-back points from Murtagh and Enda Smith (free).

Thompson and Smith kept things even ahead of the home side landing their first hammer blow on 22 minutes when their captain Murtagh drove a shot towards the Tir Chonaill goal which ricochet in off a defender for the umpire to raise the game's first green flag.

Michael Carroll hit back with a point for the Ulster men but Kevin McStay's side were buzzing after their major and landed a quick brace of points via Murtagh and Kevin Higgins, drawing a mighty roar from the home crowd.

A Murphy free closed the half at 1-7 to 0-7 with a real battle set to ensue in the second period.

Murtagh continued a tremendous display by pushing the margin to four early on in the restart, but it was Gallagher's side that enjoyed a more profitable spell during the third quarter.

Thompson, Eoghan Ban Gallagher and McBrearty (2) all pointed to draw matters level again prior to Murtagh's fourth point and Devaney blazing a golden goal chance just wide of the Donegal post.

It proved to be a significant wake-up call for last year's beaten Ulster finalists as they went on a scorching run of four unanswered points at a pivotal stage, with the brilliant O'Reilly claiming three of them.

O'Reilly's hat-trick contribution and a sweet score from McHugh gave the Gallagher's charges a three-point lead to work with heading towards the home stretch.

All that good work would be undone in an instant however, as Devaney crept in again and made no mistake in finding the Donegal net this time to set-up a grandstand finish in the closing four minutes of regulation.

In some tense dying stages, with two crucial points up for grabs, the visitors eventually drew a brick from the Rossies' wall and McHugh was the man to fire between the posts and head home with a sweet victory.

Donegal - M A McGinley; C Ward, N McGee, P McGrath; R McHugh, E Ban Gallagher (0-1), P Brennan; J McGee, M Carroll (0-1); C Thompson (0-3), M O'Reilly (0-3), E McHugh (0-3); P McBrearty (0-2, 1f), M Murphy (0-2f), J Brennan (0-1). Subs: M McHugh for P Brennan, F McGlynn for M McHugh, D O'Connor for P McBrearty, C Gibbons for J Brennan, E Doherty for N McGee.

Roscommon - C Lavin; S McDermott, T Featherston, N McInerney; R Stack, S Mullooly, J McManus; K Higgins (0-2), T O'Rourke; S Killoran, C Murtagh (1-4, 0-2f), E Smith (0-2); D Smith, F Cregg (0-1), C Devaney (1-0). Subs: T Corcoran for K Higgins, N Kilroy for F Cregg, C Connolly for D Smith, G Patterson for C Murtagh.

Referee - D O'Mahoney.

Tweet

Most Read Stories