Connacht footballers reach final
Connacht 2-15 Leinster 0-11
Connacht lead from the start in Kiltoom and were deserving ten-point winners against a disappointing Leinster team that never seriously challenged the home province.
Mayos Conor Mortimer opened the Scóring with a second minute point with further points from Leitrim pair Declan Maxwell and Emlyn Mulligan signalling what was to come from Connacht.
Paul BardenÓgot Leinster off the mark on 9 minutes while Peadar Gardiner and Ross Munnelly swapped points to leave Connacht leading by four points to two at the half way stage of the opening half.
John OMahoneys men then hit a purple patch with a goal and three points to stretch the lead to 8 points after 22 minutes play.
A Mulligan free together with an Andy Moran point lead up to the Connacht goal on 20 minutes.
Padraic Joyce and Conor Mortimer were involved in the build up with Moran slipping the ball past Gary Connaughton in the Leinster goal.
Ross Munnelly gave Val Andrews charges some hope with two pointed frees for an otherwise poor return from 30 minutes play, but Connacht went in for half time leading by 2-07 to 0-04 points thanks to a superb goal from Galway veteran Joyce after 27 minutes.
Pat Harte laid the ball off to Joyce and the centre forward made no mistake with the finish to the net.
Connacht never let up in the second half and had stretched their lead to 10 points within 9 minutes of the restart with three pointed frees from Joyce to two points in reply from Dublin duo Mossie Quinn and Collie Moran.
Leinster fought back with further points from Quinn, Munnelly and PJ Banville, but the losers were never to get close enough to stage a grandstand finish.
Another Munnelly point after 49 minutes proved to be Leinsters second last score of the game with an Emmet Bolton point in stoppage time ending the contest for an ineffectual losing province.
Kenneth Mortimer popped over a free kick midway through the half for Connacht while further points for Joyce and Maxwell together with two from Mayos Alan Dillon stretched the advantage to 11 points before Boltons late score, but the final outcome was never in doubt at any stage.
Munster also won their football clash against Ulster by 1-05 to 0-05 points. Corks Nicholas Murphy scored the decisive goal.
Connacht: D Clarke (Mayo), G Bradshaw (Galway), T Cunniffe (Mayo), Charles Harrison (Sligo), P Gardiner (Mayo) 0-1, D Blake (Galway), J Nallen (Mayo), M Finneran (Roscommon), P Harte (Mayo), E Mulligan (Leitrim) 0-3 (3f), P Joyce (Galway) 1-4 (3f), A Dillon (Mayo) 0-2 (1f), C Mortimer (Mayo) 0-2 (1f), D Maxwell (Leitrim) 0-2, A Moran (Mayo) 1-1.
Subs: G Sice (Galway for Mulligan, R McGarrity (Mayo) for Finneran, S Kilbride (Roscommon) for Mortimer, S McDermott (Roscommon) for Moran, D Kelly (Sligo) for Maxwell
Leinster: G Connaughton (Westmeath), M Ennis (Westmeath), K ONeill (Kildare), A McLochlainn (Kildare), C King (Meath), C Moran (Dublin) 0-1, E Bolton (Kildare) 0-1, S Ryan (Dublin), M Ward (Meath), P Byrne (Meath), P Barden (Longford) 0-1, PJ Banville (Wexford) 0-1, R Munnelly (Laois) 0-5 (4f), J Sheridan (Meath), T Quinn (Dublin) 0-2(1f).
Subs: JP Dalton (Wicklow) for Byrne, B Quigley (Laois) for Sheridan, J Smith (Westmeath) for Barden, M Carpenter (Carlow) for Banville, E Bradley (Wexford) for Ward.
The final will be played next Saturday, 1st November, against Munster at 7:45pm in Portlaoise.
25-Oct-08 by RTE.ie/sport
