Mark Dowd cut a contented figure after Roscommon secured their Division 1 status with a 2-20 to 0-20 victory over Donegal at The Hyde.

The Rossies bounced back from a disappointing display against Dublin to hand the Ulster champions their first defeat and give themselves a chance of reaching the Allianz Football League final ahead of the last round of fixtures.

"I'm just delighted because last time against Dublin we came out of here and we were disappointed, we didn't give the performance. The challenge I set the guys was that we performed right to the very end and in fairness credit to them they've done that today," the Roscommon manager told RTÉ.

"It does everything for confidence. It's not as if we ever doubted our ability or skill or anything like that, but we needed to prove it to ourselves on the pitch and I think we've done that throughout the League so it gives us great confidence."

Dowd was especially pleased with how his side repelled Donegal's second half comeback with a goal from substitute Conor Hand.

"We put ourselves in a great position at half-time. We had a massive challenge coming out in the second half and in fairness, to a man the guys, that came off the bench, our finishers, they were excellent," he added.

Tweet

Most Read Stories