Donnelly’s last-gasp goal rescues fortunate share of the spoils for Roscommon
Brendan Mulry, seen here in grabbing possession in front of Mayo's Eoghan Collins during the opening round of the Nickey Rackard Cup, and his Roscommon team-mates forced a draw against Sligo in Markievicz Park on Saturday afternoon. Picture: David Farrell Photography
A goal in the seventh minute of injury time from Jack Donnelly rescued a fortunate draw for the Roscommon senior hurlers in their second round Nickey Rackard Cup contest at Markievicz Park on Saturday afternoon.
Sligo had recovered from a five-point interval deficit to deservedly lead by three points but, despite only being three minutes of injury time being announced, at least seven were played by referee James Judge, and Roscommon made the most of the reprieve to force a share of the spoils.
A poor-quality contest saw the Rossies establish a 0-9 to 0-4 lead at the interval. Captain Conor Cosgrove was magnificent for the visitors, hitting a hat-trick of scores in a half where Kevin Sammon’s side hit eight wides.
But Sligo were unrecognisable on the resumption. Led by corner-forward Andrew Kilcullen, who hit 0-9 for the Yeats County, they tore into proceedings, aided by an impact off the bench from former Roscommon player Hugh Rooney.
Roscommon, despite struggling all over the field, kept tabs on their opponents, and substitute Keelan Ryan’s 66th minute point left the sides deadlocked.
Then a brace of Kilcullen frees was followed by what looked like the insurance point by midfielder Darragh Flynn.
But when Ben McGahon’s ’65 in the 77th minute broke inside the small square, Donnelly was on hand to find the net.
The pervading feeling afterwards, however, was that Sligo had been denied a deserved victory, leaving Roscommon to count their lucky stars and keep their quest for a place in the Nickey Rackard Cup final just about on track.
