Roscommon won their first Championship game in over a year as they defeated Cavan 3-20 to 1-20 in an entertaining affair which sees them through to the preliminary quarter-finals.
Murtagh was voted man of the match for his performance but he was ably supported by the likes of Enda Smith, Daire Cregg and Conor Cox who had 12 points between them.
The visitors put in a gutsy display with Gerard Smith and Cormac O’Reilly scoring five and four points respectively while Dara McVeety scored their only goal in a game where green flags were the difference.
The two sides traded points back and forth in the first half before Murtagh’s goal opened up a lead for Roscommon on 21 minutes. Cavan stuck in the game and trailed by just four at half time with the scores at 1-11 to 0-10.
After missing some chances at the beginning of the second half, Smith teed up Brian Stack to palm home the primrose and blue’s second goal but Cavan were not done yet with McVeety’s goal narrowing the gap with the points still flowing for either side.
However, the crucial and, ultimately, decisive three-pointer came from Smith as he bundled over the line from close range to seal the win for the hosts.
