Rampant Con O'Callaghan leads Dublin to first win of campaign against Roscommon

Dublin claimed their first points of this season's Allianz Football League campaign on an emotional evening for the hosts at Croke Park.

Paying tribute beforehand to the late Shane O'Hanlon - the Dublin backroom team member passed away last weekend in Spain - Dessie Farrell's crew led virtually from pillar to post.

Con O'Callaghan, curiously wearing number nine but stationed close to Roscommon's goal at full-forward for the evening, was team captain in James McCarthy's absence and led the line superbly with 0-07.

It was a strong bounceback from Dublin following back-to-back defeats to Monaghan and Mayo and they will hope to keep up the winning habit when they play Kerry back at Croke Park in a week.

Roscommon trailed by just a point at half-time but struggled to cope with Dublin's dynamism after the break and registered a late consolation goal from Enda Smith.

They are still searching for their first win of the campaign and will hope that arrives next weekend at home to Monaghan.

For Dublin, the positives were many; O'Callaghan's strong showing as an inside forward gave them real bite in attack, Sean Bugler impressed throughout while the likes of Lee Gannon, Brian Fenton and Ciaran Kilkenny contributed significantly to the win too.

Substitute Niall Scully scored Dublin's only goal in the 55th minute with the brilliant Bugler setting that score up for him.

Dublin initially named an unchanged team from the side that lost by a point in Castlebar though John Small, Eoin Murchan and Peadar O Cofaigh Byrne were late additions.

Greg McEneaney, Jack McCaffrey and Colm Basquel made way while Brian Howard, Liam Smith and Cian O'Connor were added to the list of substitutes.

James Fitzpatrick, fresh off a strong Sigerson Cup run with Maynooth