The line-up for the knockout stages of the Connacht minor football championship was confirmed with one round of games to spare, after Mayo and Roscommon picked up away wins over Leitrim and Sligo respectively on Friday night.
Those two rivals will now meet in the championship semi-final, with reigning All-Ireland champions Galway already through to the decider.
The contest at Markievicz Park between Sligo and Roscommon was in effect a straight knockout tie, and there was little to call between the teams in the early stages, with Roscommon leading by the odd point in seven midway through the first half.
The contest shifted decisively in the Rossies’ favour in the second quarter as they took control of midfield and outscored Sligo by 0-7 to 0-1 in that period, while Cian Gallagher’s score for the Yeats County was a crucial goal chance that was well saved by Aaron Cox.
Niall Heneghan, John Curran, John McGuinness and Eoghan Murray all scored well for the Rossies from open play, and while a red card for Heneghan – last week’s minor championship player of the week – opened the door for Sligo, stout Roscommon defence ensured they eased to a 0-17 to 0-8 win.
At Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada, Leitrim needed to beat Mayo to have any chance of retaining their interest in the competition and three early points for Paul Honeyman helped them to edge 0-6 to 0-5 in front with 17 minutes played. However he also missed a penalty at that point, and on the next attack Colm Lynch’s goal gave Mayo a narrow lead that they never lost.
A run of five points unanswered midway through the second half briefly pushed the lead out to eight points and while a goal from Honeyman with 10 minutes remaining kept Leitrim alive, they ultimately fell short, 1-17 to 1-13.
