Electric Ireland All-Ireland MFC quarter final

Derry 2-12 Roscommon 1-9

 

Seamus Duke at Kingspan Breffni

The excitement and euphoria surrounding the recent Connacht title victory was a distant memory in Kingspan Breffni on Saturday night as Roscommon minors produced a substandard performance in losing out to a superior Derry side by six points, a result that ended their All-Ireland dreams.

Roscommon simply never got into their usual stride, particularly in the first half. They were beaten at midfield for most of the game and missed a number of scoring chances, including a few close-range frees. It all added up to a miserable evening for the young Rossies.

When Shane Moran’s team got back into the contest briefly – via a two-pointer and a goal in the third quarter – there was a glimmer of hope for the Connacht champions, but Derry finished strongly and their second goal, which came five minutes from time, ended the game as a contest.

On a fine, breezy evening, the first half of this quarter-final was eminently forgettable. It was a throwback to the type of football that prompted the FRC to change the rules of the game, with both sides being ultra-cautious as the ball was moved from side to side, meaning goalmouth action was minimal.

Having said that, Derry looked the more dangerous going forward and they were winning a lot of possession in the middle of the field.

Having held the ball for almost two minutes from the throw-in, the Ulster side opened the scoring with a point for Rocco Devlin. They doubled that lead in the 8th minute when their best player, Lorcan Higgins, was on target.

It was poor stuff, with little entertainment for the good-sized crowd. While Roscommon were off-target with a couple of frees in that opening half, they opened their account in the 12th minute when Joshua Coyne pointed from 45 metres out.

There was no more scoring for almost 10 minutes as the game meandered along. Then, in the 21st minute, Derry sprung to life. Tomás Devlin and Lorcan Higgins were involved before midfielder Gabriel Gormley fisted to the Roscommon net.

Cathal Nerney pointed a Roscommon free two minutes later, but the young Rossies were making very few inroads into the Derry defence and the Ulster side finished the half with three points on the spin from Dan Mulholland, Niall McDermott and Tadhg Bradley, all of them from play.

Indeed it could have been worse for Roscommon as Mulholland raced through on goal in the dying seconds of the half only for his rasping shot to fly just wide of the post. As it was, Roscommon were in trouble at the break with the score at Derry 1-5 Roscommon 0-2, both of Roscommon’s points coming from frees.

It looked even worse for Roscommon at the start of the new half when Higgins, Jarlath McCartney and Rocco Devlin were all on target with Derry points within three minutes.

Roscommon were nine points down, but in fairness to the Connacht champions they came alive in the 37th minute and gave their supporters some hope of a revival materialising. Substitute Sean Duggan kicked a super two-pointer, and then a minute later Roscommon were on the attack again – and it would be a fruitful one.

Jayden Concannon and Seamie Carthy exchanged passes, and although it looked as if the chance was gone, Carthy gathered possession again and crossed to Concannon who fisted a badly needed Roscommon goal home.

Derry were undaunted. In the 41st minute, Neil McDermott kicked over a two-point free, and when Bradley scored a fine point a minute later, the gap was out to seven once again.

Still, Roscommon were playing better at this stage. Seamie Carthy pointed a free in the 44th minute, and when Ronan Carr blasted over a super two-pointer in the 47th minute, the Rossie faithful had hope once more, the margin now down to four (1-11 to 1-7).

Derry put any notion of a Roscommon renaissance to bed in those final 10 minutes. Tomás Devlin pointed in the 53rd minute and then two minutes later Rocco Devlin scored a brilliant individual goal after a mazy run. That was game, set and match for the Derry boys.

In the 59th minute, Derry half-forward Conor O’Kane received his second booking and was therefore sent to the line by referee Eamonn English – but at that stage the game was over as a contest. In injury-time Seamie Carthy kicked another Roscommon two-pointer, but it was of consolation value only.

It was a very disappointing way for Roscommon to exit the championship, but they can have no complaints on the balance of play. Too many Roscommon players just didn’t play well on the evening. Best for Roscommon were Dara Kelleher, Enda Browne, Seamie Carthy (second half) and Jayden Concannon.

But it must be remembered that these players are all around the ages of 16 and 17. Many of them will develop into U-20 and senior inter-county footballers, and one poor display will not define any of them. They gave us some great memories in 2026 and we thank them for that.

Derry, who now progress to play Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final, were impressive on the day. Bar a single two-point free, all of their scores came from play. Lorcan Higgins, Gabriel Gormley, Joey Mullen, Dan Mulholland and Tadhg Bradley were excellent for them.

Moran rues slow start

It was a very disappointed Roscommon manager Shane Moran who spoke to People Sport after Saturday evening’s All-Ireland MFC quarter-final.

“It took us far too long to get going. They converted any chances that they got. That’s the bottom line. We got going ten minutes into the second half after they had started the half with three scores. We were hoping to start the second half better but look, we were chasing the game for most of the way through, to be honest.”

The Roscommon manager was at a loss as to why his charges just didn’t perform in that first period of play.

“It’s hard to know what it was, we will have to look at the tape when we get a chance. But you must remember that they (Derry) are a good team too. I knew that they were a much better team than they showed in the Ulster final. Hats off to them, they were much better than us on the day here. They converted their scoring chances and we didn’t – and that’s the reality.”

Moran agreed that a couple of Derry players in particular had posed problems for Roscommon on the evening.

“Their number 11, Mulholland, is a fine player and the number 7, Higgins, was outstanding. They were a lot better than us on the day overall.”

Moran was philosophical when asked to reflect on the entire season.

“Only one team can win (a given game). We have had a good year. We did well in Connacht and to be honest we were hoping to push on a bit more, but that was not to be. These are only 16 and 17 year olds and they have learned a lot here today.

“This is a very high standard of football. You take the learnings from a day like today. Hopefully we will see a lot of these young guys in Roscommon jerseys in the future.”