Roscommon ease to orange ball AirDome victory over Sligo

Roscommon eased to a nine-point victory at the University of Galway Connacht GAA AirDome in Bekan, as they beat Sligo 1-21 to 0-15 in the Connacht FBD League quarter-final.

Davy Burke's side raced into a commanding first-half lead thanks to a string of early points from Daire Cregg, Diarmuid Murtagh, Jack Duggan, Cathal Heneghan, Donie Smith and Cian Connolly - all six forwards on the scoresheet inside the opening 23 minutes.

Sligo could barely keep in touch with just three scores coming from Lee Deignan (2) and Daire O'Boyle - their task made all the more difficult following Evan Lyons' black card in the 20th minute - before Cregg made it a ten-point deficit with a simple finish from close range for the only goal of the game in the 25th minute.

Then with the lead stretched to 12 points, Sligo manager Tony McEntee made wholesale changes, bringing on six substitutions in the 32nd minute - the half-time score of 1-13 to 0-04 made grim reading for the Yeats County men, who would look to limit the damage after the break.

A more even encounter followed in the second half as the sides swapped points throughout, however, Sligo were never likely to bridge the gap and just got the difference down to single digits thanks to a David Quinn point with the last kick of the game.

The Rossies will now meet the winners of London and Mayo in the semi-finals with Galway taking on Leitrim for a place in the final.