Roscommon made a bright enough start to lead by 0-4 to 0-2 after ten minutes and the game was finely poised at 0-6 each with 20 played, but their were creaking at the back and needed big a series of excellent saves from Enda Lawless to keep them in the game.
The dam started to break in the second quarter however as Ward swept a shot underneath Lawless while McKinney had three points from play in that period to help Donegal lead by seven at the interval.
There was a brief flash of hope after half-time when Robbie Fallon slammed the ball to the net in his first meaningful action after coming on as substitute, but he went on to miss a couple of crucial frees, while Donegal slotted right back into their scoring rhythm and easily pulled way clear.
Gerard Gilmore piled on the scores from frees while Ward and McKinney kept building up their own tally, so by the time Enda Lawless fired a penalty over the bar and Brendan Mulry tagged on a late goal, Donegal’s path to Croke Park was guaranteed.
Scorers:
Roscommon: B Mulry 1-1, R Fallon 1-0, P Fallon 0-3 (0-2 65s), C Murray 0-1, S Canning 0-1, J Hardiman 0-1, C Cosgrove 0-1, C Mulry 0-1, E Lawless 0-1 (pen).
Donegal: G Gilmore 0-9 (0-8f, 0-1 65), L McKinney 0-7, S Ward 1-4, P Kelly 0-2, R Campbell 0-1, S Gillespie 0-1, D Ó Maoiléidigh 0-1f
Teams:
Roscommon: E Lawless; D Mullen, J Dillon, M Ward; J Donnelly, C Cosgrove, J Dowling; D Finn, J Hardiman; C Murray, C Mulry, S Canning; B Mulry, L Óg Coyle, P Fallon.
Subs: A Donnelly for Fallon (half-time), R Fallon for Dowling (h-t), M Hussey for Coyle (53), M Hussey for Coyle (53), M Comerford for Dillon (56), J Naughton for Cosgrove (62)
Donegal: L White; G Browne, S McBride, C Curran; J O’Loughlin, S Gillespie, C O’Grady; B McIntyre, D Cullen; L McKinney, G Gilmore, O Grant; R Campbell, S Ward, P Kelly.
Subs: D Ó Maoiléidigh for Campbell (half-time), D Harvey for Grant (60), C Griffen for McIntyre (63), R McDermott for Gilmore (66), C Bradley for Gillespie (66).
Referee: N Malone (Clare)
