Roscommon produced an exciting finish to stun Westmeath and book a place in the TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Championship final.<\/p>\n
This game appeared destined for extra-time, tied 2-10 to 1-13 writes Ivan Smyth.<\/p>\n
However, Lauren Shanagher\u2019s goal and Aisling Feely\u2019s converted free ensured Roscommon reached their first TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Championship final since 2005.<\/p>\n
Now, Roscommon will play in Croke Park for the first time since 2001, where they will face Fermanagh.<\/p>\n
Both sides were without key personnel. Aisling Hanly is away travelling while Vicky Carr missed out for Westmeath.<\/p>\n
Roscommon sharpshooter Aisling Feely got the ball rolling with two early points. On the flip side, Westmeath struggled to convert their chances.<\/p>\n
Four wides in the opening eight minutes was an early sign that Roscommon\u2019s deployment of Saoirse Wynne as sweeper was working.<\/p>\n
An Abby Curran point propelled Roscommon three points ahead while at the opposite end, Sarah Dillon was denied a game levelling goal by a superb Helena Cummins save.<\/p>\n
Westmeath found the breakthrough they craved straight after that stop. Anna Jones \u201945 ended up in the net to tie the game at 1-0 to 0-3.<\/p>\n
Roscommon power for home<\/p>\n
Despite Westmeath registering six wides after 17 minutes, they showed their menace when Ashley Ruane\u2019s powerful surge ended in her blasting to the net.<\/p>\n
The Roscommon response was immediate. Within 90 seconds, R\u00f3ise Lennon showed impressive composure to fire low to the net under severe pressure.<\/p>\n
The game was now moving at a rapid pace with a superb Ella Thompson effort momentarily nudging Roscommon in front.<\/p>\n
However, two neat Sarah Dillon scores and an Anna Jones free saw Westmeath lead 2-4 to 1-5 at half-time.<\/p>\n
Katie Kilmurray increased Westmeath\u2019s advantage upon the resumption. However, in what was a rip roaring second-half Roscommon fought back.<\/p>\n
Ella Thompson was superb, her well taken effort capped a run of three points without reply and tied the game at 2-5 to 1-8.<\/p>\n
Thompson\u2019s third point from wing back kickstarted another run of three scores without reply for the Rossies.<\/p>\n
An Aisling Feely effort propelled Roscommon 1-11 to 2-6 in front. Sarah Dillon and Lauren Shanagher traded efforts before a superb two-point free from Anna Jones tied the game.<\/p>\n
In a dramatic finale, Roscommon showed impressive mental fortitude as Shanagher found the bottom corner of the net before Feely ensured Finbar Egan\u2019s side will grace Croke Park on August second.<\/p>\n
Roscommon winning out 2-14 to 2-10.<\/p>\n
Westmeath: A Temple; F Coyle, C Kelly Gonoud, S Murphy; L Power, A Ruane, L McCartan; A Jones, C Kilmurray; A Keegan (P Ruane HT), L McCartan, T Dillon; S Dillon, R Higgins, K Kilmurray.<\/p>\n
Scorers: Jones 1-3, (1-0 \u201945, 1tpf, 1f), S Dillon 0-4, A Ruane 1-0, C Kelly Gonoud, C Kilmurray, K Kilmurray 0-1 each.<\/p>\n
Roscommon: H Cummins; \u00c1 Connaughton, M McKeon, \u00c1 McGrath; N Feeney (G Lohan 60), R Cox, E Thompson; E Irwin (R Fitzmaurice 59), A Curran; K Nolan (N Watson 50), S Wynne, L Mannion; R Lennon (L Shanagher 50), A Feely, C Lennon.<\/p>\n
Scorers: A Feely 0-6 (3f), L Shanagher and R Lennon 1-1 each, E Thompson 0-3, A Curran, L Mannion and C Lennon 0-1 each.<\/p>\n
Referee: David Hurson (Monaghan).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roscommon produced an exciting finish to stun Westmeath and book a place in the TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Championship…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43,21727],"class_list":["post-546240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-roscommon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}