Captain Centurion excited by next challenge

On a day of facts and figures, like Aidan O’Shea’s record-breaking 185th appearance for Mayo, like Paddy Durcan’s 100th appearance and Fergal Boland’s 50th, perhaps the most surprising of all was that numbers one to 10 on the Mayo team supplied just 0-1 of the 2-21 scored in Sunday’s comfortable victory at Gaelic Park.

That point came from the boot of Durcan early in the second-half, just a minute before New York plundered their first of two goals. But the Mayo captain could just as easily have had a goal himself, as early as the fourth minute of the first-half when crashing the ball against the post. It was the first of six Mayo goal attempts in the game, only two of which went converted – and one of those was a penalty.

“I maybe had guys on the outside of me. I was coming down through the middle and maybe should have given the pass, it’s something I’ll look back on,” said Paddy Durcan afterwards.

“We created a lot of opportunities, probably didn’t convert as much as we would have liked, but they’re the work-ons definitely for two weeks’ time.

“We’re just happy to get the job done. There’s probably a lot to work on which we’ll look back on but ultimately we got the win and we’ve two weeks ahead to prepare for the next game.

“We just wanted to get over the line today but quickly tomorrow our attention is going to turn to the next challenge. It’s an exciting one and one we’ll look forward to,” he said of the impending Connacht semi-final against Roscommon.

“It’s great to have the whole panel here and everybody driving each other on. You get to spend a good accumulation of time together which is obviously beneficial on the pitch but off the field too. That hopefully gels momentum within a team and that’s crucial too.

We have a good squad momentum, there’s a lot of guys pushing each other on, even fellas not in the 26 today. That’s at the forefront of any good group so it’s a quick turnaround, we’ve got to put the foot down and drive on again.” Agreeing that to play in New York is a “unique” experience like no other, Durcan noted that the hosts “weren’t just going to roll over and they brought a physicality to it”.

“We probably did turn over a couple of balls at the start and it just took us a small bit to get to the pitch of it but we got there in the end.

“Stretching out the lead gave us that cushion at half-time to keep New York at arm’s length,” added Durcan who lauded the performance of Ryan O’Donoghue in particular.

“He’s playing excellent. He’s a real focal point for us and he leads the line really well for us so look, we’re very happy to have him.” He also reserved special praise for the thousands of Mayo supporters who journeyed from all over the world to New York to fill Times Square on Saturday and watch the game on Sunday.

“It’s a very proud moment any time you get to play for Mayo but when you see the amount of people coming over here and how well supported, it’s not every county that has that.

“It’s something we’re very cognisant of as a group and you never take lightly the chance to represent Mayo because it’s only a certain period of time and then the jersey is going to be passed on and then we’ll be those people in Times Square!” It was a point expanded on by Paddy Durcan’s manager, Kevin McStay, who said playing championship football in New York “connects” the Mayo players with the supporters, wherever they may be in the world.

“Our identity is our team. Mayo people aren’t going to ask you how are things in the forestry industry, they’re going to ask how’s the team going. That’s their identity and it’s the first thing they want to know, who’s going well and have we any chance. So we’ve a great sense that we’re representing the gang and being out here really, really enforces that.

“Seeing the green and red out here is terrific and it’s a very positive experience for our boys, to be able to connect with that sense of sentiment and love and pride in what we do,” added McStay.