Roscommon 0-11 Clare 0-6 Roscommon got their campaign off to a good start with a deserved win over Clare at Cusack Park, Ennis, yesterday.

Playing against the wind in the opening half, the visitors outplayed Clare and led by 0-9 to 0-2 at the break. Tom Carr's side started impressively and led by 0-5 to no score after 14 minutes.

Clare did manage to control matters for short periods, but poor finishing let them down and a total of 13 wides, eight in the first half, tells its own story.

They finally got on the scoresheet when Alan Clohessy scored from a free after 23 minutes and he followed it up with another three minutes later.

The eventual victors ended the half as they started, hitting the target on four occasions in a three-minute spell before the break.

Early in the second half, Clohessy converted two frees, and when he scored his side's first from play in the 44th minute it was 0-10 to 0-5 to Roscommon.

Three players, two from Clare, were sent off. Roscommon's Frankie Dolan and Clare's Christy Kirwin were shown red for an off-the-ball tussle, while Clohessy was dismissed after getting a second yellow card.

ROSCOMMON: R O'Reilly; R Cox, M Ryan, J Nolan; E Towey, F Grehan (0-1, free), P Noone; S O'Neill (0-1), B Higgins (0-1); G Cox (0-2, one free), J Hanley, J Tiernan; J Dunning, K Mannion (0-1), F Dolan (0-5, three frees). Subs: A McPadden for Nolan, J Rogers for Ryan, N Dineen for Tiernan, G Heneghan for Dunning.

CLARE: D O'Brien; P Gallagher, C Whelan, D Blake; N Griffin, D Kelly, C Kirwin; J Moody, B Considine; M O'Shea, D Russell, E Coughlan (0-1); A Clohessy (0-5, four frees), D O'Sullivan, K Considine. Subs: J Dowling for K Considine, J Daly for O'Shea.

Referee: M Deegan (Laois).