Elphin do enough to book Connacht final berth

Roscommon will be represented in the AIB Connacht club IFC final for the fourth year in succession after Elphin put up the defensive shutters in the second half of a tense and error-ridden battle with Eastern Harps this afternoon, before finally nudging in front thanks to late points from Damien Cregg and Shane Killoran to prevail 0-9 to 0-7.

Nigel Dineen’s side enjoyed plenty of possession and played a lot of the game on the front foot, but their tendency to put simple passes astray and hand possession to the South Sligo side put them in real trouble.

A low-scoring battle looked highly unlikely when a neat Gerry Cregg point on the turn after six minutes made it 0-3 to 0-1 after six minutes, while Eastern Harps posed a real attacking threat themselves, with Matt Henry operating in an isolated role at the top end of the pitch.

Henry kicked one point and was centrally involved in some good build up play that led to a couple of Caelan Hunt scores before half-time, and while Elphin struck the upright twice, it was still the Roscommon champions that were probably flattered at half-time with the score at 0-6 to 0-5 in favour of the visitors.

A somewhat harsh call to penalise Michael Clarke for what looked like a good shoulder on Gerry Cregg allowed Fintan Cregg to tie up the scores early in the second half, and the teams traded points to leave the contest finely poised at 0-7 each with just six minutes gone in the second half.

By now the Eastern Harps attack was starved of possession but for the next 17 minutes, Elphin failed to make it count. Poor decision-making led to either turnovers or low percentage shots that didn’t yield any return, though Eastern Harps too were guilty of failing to take advantage of the few opportunities that came their way.

Eventually the pressure told as a skied kick from Evan Gunn was kept in play and recycled to Damien Cregg, who swept the ball over from 30 metres out.

Shane Killoran followed up with another score on the next attack but Elphin failed to build on that momentum, and they had to survive a series of goalmouth scrambles to hang on, with Ciarán Dorrian, Shawn O’Hara and Conor Walsh all getting contact on the ball in the square, but failing to breach Aaron Brady’s goal.

Crossmolina’s comprehensive 2-13 to 1-7 win over St. Michael’s in the other semi-final means that it will be the Mayo club that will travel to Dr. Hyde Park for next weekend’s decider.

*Full report and reaction in Tuesday's Roscommon Herald*