Monaghan 1-19 Roscommon 0-13: Monaghan inflicted a morale shattering defeat on Roscommon in a somewhat unexpectedly one-sided contest in Clones yesterday.

The hosts effectively had the game wrapped up by half-time, at which stage they led by 12 points and while Roscommon hit a good spell in the final quarter they never looked like getting a result.

Monaghan got off to a great start with a goal from Raymond Ronaghan after just 30 seconds and then quickly tagged on four points.

They led by 1-13 to 0-4 at half-time with Roscommon facing a huge task in the second half. To their credit they stuck to their arduous task and had their best period in the game between the 23rd and 33rd minutes when they scored six points without reply to put some respectability on the scoreboard.

MONAGHAN: S Duffy; G McQuaid (0-1), V Corey (0-1), C Flanagan; D Freeman (0-2), J Coyle, J Ward; F Duffy, P Finlay (0-2); J McElroy, M Daly, S McManus (0-3); R Woods (0-4), R Ronaghan (1-1), T Freeman 0-3. Subs: D McArdle (0-1) for J McElroy, F Doogan for F Duffy, D McKernan (0-1) for M Daly, N Corrigan for S McManus, H McElroy for R Ronaghan, S Gollogly for D Freeman.

ROSCOMMON: S Curran; J Whyte, B McNeela, C Beirne; M Ryan, P Noone, J Rogers; S O'Neill (0-3), K Mannion (0-1); G Cox (0-1), F Grehan (0-4), D Connellan; S Kilbride, J Dunning (0-4), J Tiernan. Subs: B Higgins for S Kilbride, M O'Carroll for G Cox, yellow card, E Towey for C Beirne, yellow card, K Mahon for J Whyte, yellow card, N Dineen for J Tiernan.

YELLOW CARDS: Roscommon: G Cox, C Beirne, J Whyte.

Referee: F Barrett (Kildare).