Mayo resisted Roscommon's brave revival to prevail by 0-14 to 1-9 at Ballinlough.

Already assured of a place in the competition final before throw-in this afternoon, James Horan's charges looked comfortable when they led by six points well into the second half but Kevin Higgins' goal and points from John Rogers and Shine helped the hosts level it with two minutes left.

However, Mayo had looked likely winners throughout and, when questions were asked of them, substitute Barry Moran and Alan Dillon registered the last two points to give them a morale-boosting win - albeit after an unexpected grandstand finish

Pat Harte and Ger Heneghan traded the first two points of the game before Alan Freeman and goalkeeper David Clarke (45) floated over lovely scores for the visitors to give them a 0-3 to 0-1 advantage after 14 minutes.

The impressive Conor Mortimer went on to add four first-half points for Mayo, with Heneghan claiming the hosts' only other first-half score as the rampant visitors led by 0-7 to 0-2 at the break.

Seamus O'Shea opened the second-half scoring within 27 seconds and Donie Shine, Mortimer and Freeman were amongst the scorers before Andy Moran came off the bench to mark his return to action in style.

Higgins' goal sparked a great Roscommon revival and the spectators here certainly got value for money. Tweet

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