Shally and Hannon leave Sligo in a spin
Roscommon corner-forward Luke Shally tries to control possession ahead of Sligo full-back Conor Boyle during Friday evening's Connacht Minor Football Championship contest at a wet King and Moffatt Dr. Hyde Park. Picture: Gerard O'Loughlin
Luke Shally and Sam Hannon hit 0-10 between them as the Roscommon minor footballers illuminated a dark and dreary King and Moffatt Dr. Hyde Park with a flying start against Sligo in the opening round of this year’s Connacht Minor Football Championship.
As far as opening performances go, it couldn’t have gone any better for the home side who were sharp and accurate in front of the posts in difficult conditions.
Shane Moran’s side made a blistering start, kicking the game’s opening six points.
Seamus Hussey from Oran got the ball rolling before corner-forward Luke Shally hit a purple match, hitting four points on the trot to embellish his side’s positive opening.
Sam Hannon, who was a pivotal player in Roscommon CBS’ recent All-Ireland Colleges’ success, was next to trouble the scoreboard, giving the home side a comfortable lead after 13 minutes.
Éanna Giblin’s effort with the outside of his right boot was a much-needed score for Sligo in the 15th minute but Roscommon embarked on another mini-scoring spree, with a free by captain Dara Curran, which was followed by the game’s only two-pointer by Sam Hannon.
But Sligo regained some lost ground in the final minutes of the half as Ryan Healy, James Donoghue and a fisted effort from Ryan Lang left the visitors 0-9 to 0-4 in arrears at the break.
Sligo did open the second-half scoring through a Lang free, but that’s as close as the visitors came as Roscommon completely took over.
Shally and Hannon added to their tallies, while Marc Shally and Dean Casey made notable contributions off the bench as Roscommon made a hugely encouraging start to their campaign.
