Roscommon get Nickey Rackard Cup campaign off to winning start

Brendan Mulry hit 1-5 and Paddy Fallon pitched in with eight points from placed balls to procure a six-point win for Kevin Sammon’s charges.

The home side laid their platform for victory in the opening half, hitting 0-15 with a strong wind at their backs.

It took some time for Roscommon to fine-tune their radar but their accuracy became more pronounced as the half progressed.

Paddy Fallon spearheaded the scoring charge with 0-7 (six frees and a ’65), while Brendan Mulry, Jack Dowling, Darragh Finn, James Hardiman, and Cian Murray split the posts from play.

Louth had made a decent start when Conor Murphy found the net in the seventh minute following some hesitancy in the Roscommon rearguard, but the visitors had it all to do at the break, trailing by 0-15 to 1-3.

To their credit, they made a decent fist at trying to reel in their opponents, outscoring the hosts by 0-5 to 0-1 in the third quarter.

But once Mulry flicked a long delivery to the net with three minutes remaining, Roscommon were home and hosed.

SCORERS – Roscommon: P Fallon (7f, 1 ’65) 0-8, B Mulry 1-5, D Finn, J Hardiman, C Murray 0-2 each, J Dowling 0-1.

Louth: D Geoghegan (6f) 0-6, C Murphy 1-1, P Lynch 0-3, D Stephenson 0-2, S Kettle, T McCressh 0-1 each.

ROSCOMMON – E Lawless; M Ward, D Leonard, J Dillon; J Donnelly, C Cosgrove, J Dowling; D Finn, J Hardiman; C Murray, A Donnelly, B Lawlor; B Mulry, J Martin, P Fallon.

Subs – S Canning for Donnelly (h-t), C Mulry for Martin (h-t), L Óg Coyle for Lawlor (67), T Fleming for Donnelly (68).

LOUTH – C Clancy; A Smyth, C Quigley, R Mulholland; G Allen, A Plunkett, A McGuinness; S Kettle, J Casey; C Murphy, D Geoghegan, S Connelly; P Lynch, J Costello, P Fortune.

Subs – K Rafferty for Plunkett (11), T McCressh for Costello (51), D Stephenson for Connelly (55), R McKeown for McGuinness (64), D Carey for Casey (70).

REF – C O’Regan (Cork)

Photo Credit: Louth GAA