Wing back Declan Coyne opened Roscommon’s account with a point, while Barry McElduff did likewise for Tyrone. Then Rory McCann popped over two for the Ulster boys. Jason McEvoy, the incisive corner forward, cut through and fired over a Roscommon point from 40 yards and Rory McCann opened up with a 3-point gap, 0-5 to 0-2, with his effort at the 10-minute mark. Ed Cleary chipped over a point after a foul on Padraig Carney. Roscommon spurned a good goal chance before Ken Cox intercepted a Tyrone move and quickly released it to Ed Cleary. Cleary’s deflected attempt was finished to the net by Jason McEvoy to push Roscommon ahead by 1-3 to 0-5 at the halfway stage of the period.
Ed Cleary then extended the lead from a free. A good run by Declan Coyne ended with Jason McEvoy scoring from a free to give Roscommon a goal lead. Tyrone tacked on two points, courtesy of Paul Kirwin and Ray Haugney, to leave the score at 1-5 to 0-7 in Roscommon’s favor as halftime approached.
Then the rain came pouring down as players and officials went for shelter at the break. Prior to that, the weather pattern was one of a few brief heavy showers with no apparent sign of thunder. However, the GAA authorities seemed to hit the panic button and summarily called off the second half of the game with minimal consultation of the involved parties. Indeed, the teams weren’t given the allotted break before the decision was made. Apparently the GAA authorities were brainwashed by the Noah-like floods that the media were predicting. Fortunately, the predicted deluges never arrived in the Gaelic Park region. With a little less haste in decision-making, the game could have been safely finished to the satisfaction of the parties involved.
Roscommon: Mike Deere, Mike Conroy, Fiachra Colgan, Joe Naughton, Declan Coyne (0-1), Padraig Carney, Jamie Sharkey, Darragh Mahony, Diarmuid Carney, Damian Ward, John Deere, Rory Durnin, Ed Cleary (0-1), Ken Cox, Jason McEvoy (1-3).
Tyrone: Colin Ruth, Damian McKenna, Timmy Lynch, Martin McMahon, Paddy McCarron, Liam Briody, Noel Lynch, Peter McNamee, Ray Haugney (0-1), Paul Kirwin (0-2), Rory McCann (0-3), Barry O’Neill, Peter Gillespie, Barry McElduff (0-1), Darren Flanagan.