McStay disappointed by another patchy team display

Kevin McStay refused to put any blame on referee David Gough after his Mayo team slipped to an agonising one-point defeat in last Sunday’s Connacht final.

With a minute of normal time remaining, Mayo took a two-point lead but Galway bounced back very late on to complete a three-in-a-row of provincial titles. The awarding of Conor Gleeson’s long-range free that decided the game in deepest stoppage time was a contentious call after Conor Loftus went down under a double tackle from Matthew Tierney and Paul Conroy.

“We zone in on the last few minutes but David Gough is the best referee in the country by a mile,” said a magnanimous McStay.

“There was two teams out there driving into one another, it was really hard physical stuff, a very difficult match to referee because both teams just so badly wanted to win the cup.

“We have no issues. He has reffed us many times in the past, good days and bad days. It was a difficult game to ref. I wouldn’t like to have refereed it. We got a bounce at different stages in the match. Then a few went against us.” 

Nonetheless, McStay was bitterly disappointed with the defeat and rued Mayo’s inability to put the Maroon and White away.

“As a group, I thought we nearly had it. I thought we nearly had it at three, but couldn't get to four and so the game was always alive. [There was] no sense on the sideline that we had won or anything. But we thought we'd get it over the line and didn't.

“You have to commend Galway for staying at it. They were staring down defeat too, and they were able to work it up the field and get a few frees and keep themselves in contention.

“Once there was only a point or two in it, the game was all there to be won. Yeah, just disappointing. We were mad to win it. I hope you all understand now, there was nobody lining up easy groups or difficult groups. When you see the sort of stuff that was going on. Like, both teams were fully committed to winning the Nestor Cup and unfortunately it has eluded us now.” 

On their performance, he added: “We were patchy. We never got a flow. We never got to where we were comfortable in the game.

“We were good for ten minutes and then let them back into it. That would be our biggest disappointment because we really wanted to give an even performance and we had a strong bench to come in and give us a lift and then equally Galway had their strong bench.

“That was the way it was always going to finish out, the last 15, 20, which bench made the biggest impact, and Galway got a fair tune out of their one.” 

Kevin McStay confirmed that Mayo captain Paddy Durcan missed the game due to a calf injury but that he hopes to have him back for the All-Ireland group series.

“He was very unlucky, we thought he would make it but he just failed a fitness test on Thursday. He has a bang on his calf. I think we probably could have played him for a while. But why would we risk him and then lose him for two or three games?” 

There was much talk during the build-up to this game about the draw for the All-Ireland series taking place and the argument that the runners-up would have a less competitive group. But McStay dismissed any notion that Mayo were not gunning for the Nestor Cup.

“We had our hearts set on it. It's something we wanted to do as a group. It would have left us having won a lot of the stuff that's on offer to us, if we could have won the Connacht Championship, just this group over the last 18 months or so, but it wasn't to be.

“We know from last year when we played Louth and Cork, in this kind of linear analysis that people do, 'two points, easy game'. It doesn't work out like that. We have to look at who we're playing and every game will be played on its merits.

“There's one away from home, which is going to be tricky. There's one in a neutral venue and that's going to be tricky. And I have no doubt that our game at home will be a tricky one.

“The top 16 teams in the country are all well coached and well put together, so there's going to be nothing simple for anybody. But we'll think about that tomorrow. We thought only about Galway and ourselves."

Mayo now face Cavan in under two weeks in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park and McStay believes Mayo still have plenty to offer in this championship.

“If we won by a point, the whole narrative in here now is completely different, where everything is mighty and we're all bubbling. So losing by a point? Yeah, okay it's not nice but it's not a million miles away from winning by a point. That sounds crazy, I know, but we still are a decent team and we're still able to go toe-to-toe with Galway.

“We know we're going to be competitive in this round robin no matter what way it goes so we're going to go home, lick our wounds and get ready for that match.”