A goal from a penalty by team captain Ciaran Murtagh in the 68th minute clinched a deserved victory for Roscommon over Down in a match played in the novel surroundings of Glennon Brothers Pearse Park.
The match was switched to the Longford venue after Roscommon’s home ground Hyde Park was deemed unplayable. It didn’t discomfort the Rossies who followed up on their sensational drubbing of Cork with a more measured, patient display against Down, who dropped two sweepers back in the first-half to frustrate the Roscommon attack.
Down, who were promoted along with Roscommon last year, are now facing into a relegation battle after suffering their fourth successive defeat. They need to get something from their showdown with All-Ireland champions Dublin next week and their survival prospects have taken another blow with the bombshell news that Benny Coulter will not be returning to the panel this year.
It was announced before the league that the former Allstar was coming out of retirement but Down manager Eamonn Burns explained after the match that Coulter will not be returning.
“Benny Coulter has withdrawn from the panel and won’t be coming back. He was hoping to come back in after Christmas but Benny can’t do so because of business commitments,” Burns said.
Murtagh and Fintan Cregg were able to breach the Down packed defence often enough to provide Roscommon with their third victory of the campaign and, in the process, give them a great chance of retaining their Division One status.
Down began well as Aidan Carr and Jonny Flynn dropped back in front of the full-back line to cut the supply to Roscommon inside duo Senan Kilbride and Cian Connolly.
Darragh O’Hanlon opened the scoring in the second minute, followed quickly by a free from Connaire Harrison. Following three early wides Murtagh settled the Rossies with a point from an eighth-minute free and, as they got into their stride, Murtagh followed up with three further points by the 17th minute.
Cregg breached the blanket defence with two long-range scores and, after Down goalie Michael Cunningham made a superb one-handed save from Conor Devanney, Conor Daly stretched the lead to five by the 28th minute.
After going 27 minutes without a score Down finished the half well and points from Harrison and Mark Poland left just three between the teams at the interval.
Cregg notched a marvellous point after 37 minutes while Murtagh found the range from a free but the Rossies couldn’t pull away from Down who were unlucky not to find the net in the 42th minute when Harrison punched Carr’s hanging lob against the crossbar.
Points from Murtagh, Daly and Cathal Cregg to a lone Down reply from Paul Devlin gave Roscommon breathing space and they capped off a satisfactory day two minutes from the end of normal time.
Fintan Cregg was tripped by Cunningham who received a red card but substitute goalkeeper Stephen Kane’s first task was to pick the ball out of the net after Murtagh scored with a low shot.
Down manager Eamonn Burns said his team performed well but their decision-making let them down. “We were in the game for long periods and we kept ourselves in touch. We addressed some of the problems from the Kerry match last week but our decision-making let us down.
“Our inside forward-line worked hard and I’m happy with the progress from last week but what we want is a result. We hit the crossbar and a goal then could have changed the complexion of the game. We’ll keep battling on. We have Dublin next and we’re looking forward to that, we will get ready for them during the week. Our performance was reasonably good but confidence comes from winning games,” Burns said.
Roscommon joint-manager Fergal O’Donnell said his team “didn’t play their best” but still won. “The main thing for us is survival, if we stay in Division 1 it’ll be a good year for Roscommon football. Division 1 is where you want to be, the Division 1 teams are the tests where we can measure ourselves. We are playing Donegal next week and it’s great to be playing against guys with All-Ireland medals, these are the tests where we can measure ourselves.
“It was a day for backs and the lads worked hard. It was an unusual position for us to be favourites after the win against Cork, this is the type of game where Roscommon have struggled in the past, when there is expectation.
“We took some crazy shots in the first-half and Conor (Devanney) missed a goal chance which we have to take but we improved at picking up breaks in the second-half. We have three games to go and those games will be difficult but we have to be happy with today,” O’Donnell said.
