Roscommon victory brings extra glory
Roscommon's 4-11 to 1-16 victory over Offaly today in Tullamore not only booked John Maughan's side a place in the NFL Division Two semi-finals but also gained them entry to next season's restructured Division Two.
The Rossies' win saw them finish second in the Division 2A table, ahead of Longford and Leitrim who will both be playing in Division Three in 2008.
The rescheduled final round in Division 2A took place today with the other results confirming Offaly, Clare, Carlow and London as the sides who will slip down to Division Four.
Those four counties will also compete in the Tommy Murphy Cup this summer once they are knocked out of their respective provincial championships.
Roscommon turned in an excellent performance at O'Connor Park where corner forward Ger Heneghan from Castlerea scored 2-5.
This was a game which was full of bite and although it threatened to spill over occasionally, the tough tackling did not mar what was one of the best games seen at the Offaly venue for some time.
The sides were level on six occasions over the course of the game, including four times during the opening half.
Roscommon started brightly and three points from the boot of Heneghan along with an over from Gary Cox ensured a 0-4 to 0-2 advantage for the visitors after 14 minutes.
Offaly came back strongly with points from brothers Niall and Alan McNamee, Thomas Deehan and Karl Slattery, to see the home side take a two-point lead in the 22nd-minute.
However the first of Hingham's goals came 10 minutes before half-time to put Roscommon back in front.
Offaly were strongest in the closing stages of the half with two points each from Niall McNamee and Neville Coughlan handing them a 0-11 to 1-5 interval lead.
Maughan's men came back well in the second half and a Michael Finneran point along with a Heneghan penalty goal saw them nip ahead.
In a tense second half, Offaly were far from finished and points from Niall McNamee and James Coughlan (0-2) saw them take the lead once again.
The nip and tuck nature of the game continued with Cathal Cregg's 46th-minute goal giving Roscommon the lead once more and although Neville Coughlan goalled eight minutes later for Offaly, Enda Kenny collected Roscommon's fourth goal soon after and from then on, there was no looking back for the Connacht side.
Leitrim 2-10 Monaghan 1-14, Cloone
London 4-11 Carlow 1-7, Ruislip
Longford 2-10 Clare 0-10, Pearse Park
Offaly 1-16 Roscommon 4-11, Tullamore
