The Roscommon and District League made their exit from the Oscar Traynor Cup following extra time at Lecarrow last Sunday afternoon (January 28 ).
Pre-match favourites, the Athletic Union League were pushed all the way by the hosts, but the Dublin team finished stronger to advance to the quarter finals.
The visitors opened the scoring in the first half, but the lead was short-lived as Niall Brennan soon restored parity. No further goals were scored for the remainder of the 90 minutes, so extra time was needed to decide the tie, with the AUL finishing the job to progress.
The Roscommon League representative side are managed by Philip Coffey from St Peter’s, and he picked fellow club men David Donohoe, Daragh Concannon, Noel McGee and Ryan Carberry in his depleted squad.
The home team started brightly and earned the first corner kick of the contest early on. Sean Purcell then had a chance to open the scoring, but AUL keeper Ernest Lemantovic made a brilliant save to push behind the flicked effort. Brennan fired into the side netting from the resulting corner.
Luke Burke and Joe Hunt had further chances for the hosts. The visitors replied through a Stephen Donnelly free kick, as both teams looked to gain an early advantage. Midway through the half, Brennan had another good chance, but saw his shot on the turn clear the bar.
The deadlock was finally broken after 24 minutes. Roscommon failed to clear the danger from an away attack and Anto McKay took advantage, firing into the net from the edge of the penalty area. The lead was short-lived, though, as three minutes later Coffey’s men were back on level terms. A clearance from Lemantovic only found Brennan, who kept his composure to round the unfortunate keeper and send the ball into the roof of the net.
The game could have went either way in the second half, with both teams having good chances to win the tie in normal time. Micheal Corrigan did well to put in a life saving tackle on John Rock as the AUL striker looked set to score. Rock was then guilty of missing a good chance when blasting over an unguarded net. John Drummond could have been the home hero late on, but the finish from the substitute was poor.
The AUL prevailed in extra time as the depleted home outfit suffered from tired minds and limbs. Having used both his outfield subs, manager Coffey could do little to influence the outcome as a goal in each period sealed victory for the pre match favourites. The ball was lost by Roscommon in their own half and Donnelly punished the slackness to race clear and finish with a low shot. The gloss was put on the win with two minutes remaining as midfielder Jorden Buckley scored, ending Roscommon’s interest in the competition for this season.
