U20: Sligo and Mayo through to Connacht decider

Sligo and Mayo will contest this year's EirGrid Connacht U-20 football final after respective semi-final wins over Roscommon and Leitrim on Wednesday evening.

At Markievicz Park, Sligo had a 1-12 to 1-11 victory over the Rossies, with Eoghan Smith kicking the winning point in added time.

The game was tight early on but an Adam McDermott goal for the visitors on 18 minutes pushed them 1-04 to 0-04 clear.

That lead had extended to five points by the 23rd minute but a penalty four minutes later, converted by Lee Deignan, sparked a Sligo revival. By half-time the sides were level at 1-07 apiece.

Points were traded early on in the second period until Roscommon edged two clear 1-11 to 1-09 by the 48th minute.

However, it was the hosts who finished the stronger with points from Deignan and two from Smith sealing the victory by the bare minimum.

One point win for @sligogaa - character building… for the supporters pic.twitter.com/L7h8srgGAH

It was equally as tight in Carrick-on-Shannon where Mayo withstood a late Leitrim surge to run out 0-16 to 2-09 winners.

The Green and Red were nine points to the good with five minutes of normal time remaining, but two late Leitrim goals brought about a closer-than-expected finish.

With captain Frank Irwin impressing, Mayo were purposeful right from the start, continually driving at the home defence. They led by five at the break and had pushed that advantage out to 0-15 to 0-04 by the 46th minute.

The hosts did reply with a few well-worked points but a Dylan Thornton score left it 0-16 to 0-07 after 55 minutes.

But then came the Leitrim rally. Conor Quinn pounced for their first goal and then Jack Casey converted a penalty.

When a long-range Michael McKernan free went over there was just a point in it.

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