Sligo ended their long wait of 53 years to land the Connacht minor football championship title by seeing off 14-man Roscommon at Dr Hyde Park this evening.

The Yeats County claimed a well deserved 0-19 to 1-11 win and in doing so avenged last year's final defeat to the Rossies.

Having failed to register a single score for 55 minutes in the 2020 decider which was played out in horrific weather conditions at Bekan on the day after Christmas Day, Paul Henry's charges were determined to make amends for that 1-5 to 1-2 defeat.

They raced into a 0-5 to 0-0 lead, their impressive full-forward line trio of Luke Marren, Joshua Flynn, and Brian Duffy were firing on all cylinders as they established an early dominance over the hosts.

The holders got off the mark when Shane McGinley scored the only goal of the game on seven minutes and they were 1-4 to 0-6 to the good at the first water-break.

Sligo captain Kyle Davey lifts the Connacht MFC trophy. ©INPHO/Tommy Dickson.

But a '45 from goalkeeper Kyle Davey and further Marren points kept the scoreboard ticking over for Sligo to give them a narrow half-time advantage - 0-10 to 1-6.

In the second-half, the challengers always maintained the lead and were 0-13 to 1-8 ahead with 15 minutes remaining.

McGinley narrowed the gap to one on a couple of occasions but Sligo closed out the contest with a scoring spurt before Roscommon substitute Paddy Higgins was shown a straight red card.

Bunninadden's Marren was particularly outstanding with 0-10 to his name and received the man-of-the-match award as the Yeats County booked themselves an All-Ireland semi-final place against Meath in two weeks' time.

 

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