Roscommon move through the gears in seeing off Sligo

Roscommon applied the after-burners in the final quarter to comfortably see off Sligo and maintain their push for a knockout berth in this year's All-Ireland SFC.

With Enda Smith kicking 0-05 from play and Dylan Ruane netting his first championship goal, it was another good afternoon at the office for Davy Burke and his players who narrowly top Group 3 on scoring difference from Dublin heading into the final series of matches.

Predictably, the opening half was a cagey affair with both teams putting bodies behind the ball. Roscommon spurned a couple of goal chances, but Sligo’s accuracy left a lot to be desired as the visitors shot ten wides with the wind behind them.

Diarmuid Murtagh and Niall Murphy swapped frees inside the first 11 minutes, but a feature of the opening half was Sligo trying "pot shots" from distance and failing to hit the target, while Diarmuid Murtagh was denied a goal by Aidan Devaney’s smart save.

Seán Carrabine, from a long-range free, and Cian McKeon exchanged points before Murtagh (free) and Enda Smith edged Roscommon in front.

Murphy reduced the arrears with his second free of the afternoon before Enda Smith, Diarmuid Murtagh and Ben O’Carroll left Roscommon 0-07 to 0-03 ahead after 25 minutes.

A neat score by Carrabine on the run was followed by an excellent effort from Alan Reilly to leave just two between them.

Colin Walsh fisted his first score in championship football, but Reilly was on hand again to land a decent score to leave Sligo trailing 0-08 to 0-06 at the break.

Early points from Enda Smith and Ciaráin Murtagh (free) suggested that Roscommon were going to pull away but the impressive Reilly and Carrabine replied to leave Tony McEntee’s side still very much in the hunt.

Another flurry of