Leitrim suffer heavy defeat at hands of Roscommon in Connacht League Semi-Final

After the high of their victory over Mayo last Monday, Leitrim were brought back down to earth with a tremendous bang when Roscommon handed them a 38 point beating in the Connacht Hurling League Semi-Final in the NUI Galway Connacht GAA Air Dome on Wednesday evening.

Up against a fresh Roscommon team barely 48 hours after triumphing over Mayo in the same venue, Leitrim suffered a heavy loss in their second outing of the year as Roscommon led by 17 points at the break.

Leitrim’s hurlers will be back in action on Saturday when they take on New York in the League Shield Final at the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence (5pm throw-in), a trophy they won last year.

Murray hat-trick propels Leitrim to impressive win over Mayo

LEITRIM 4-23 MAYO 1-18

Roscommon set out their intent early on as they led 0-9 to 0-1 after just 12 minutes of Wednesday’s game. Sean O’Riordan fired over a second Leitrim point but Roscommon hit back with three unanswered points before Conor Beirne scored after 20 minutes.

David McGovern added another point for the Leitrim men and after two more points for the Rossies, Conor Beirne notched his second after 23 minutes of action. Roscommon continued to pile on the scores with O’Riordan and new recruit Michael Dervan both replying with good scores.

Roscommon, however, replied with a burst of their own as they scored 1-2 before halftime to lead 1-20 to 0-7 at halftime.

The second half continued in the same vein with Roscommon firing over four points before Clement Cunniffe scored six minutes into the second period. Leitrim added a goal from a Michael Dervan penalty with Roscommon responding with two points before Martin Feeney hit a point 21 minutes into the second half for the Green & Gold.

Leitrim hurling fans enjoy big Connacht League win over Mayo in Bekan - GALLERY

Leitrim hurlers started the county year off with a bang in the NUI Galway Connacht GAA Air Dome when they dished out a 4-23 to 1-18 beating to Mayo in the Connacht Hurling League on Monday. Observer photographer Willie Donnellan was there to capture some images of the diehard fans who made the journey to Bekan to cheer on the hurlers ... see who you can spot!

That left Leitrim trailing 1-26 to 1-9 with Olcan Conway’s side managing just one more point, in added time, as Roscommon went on a scoring spree, hitting five goals and seven points to really drive home their already considerable advantage, more than doubling it in fact, to qualify for a final meeting against a Galway Development panel on Saturday.