McStay lauds O'Shea and McLaughlin displays

Mayo manager Kevin McStay hailed a ‘terrific’ display by Eoghan McLaughlin after they came away with a third win on the trot this year against Roscommon.

The lightning-quick Westport player filled the hole of the injured Paddy Durcan as he torched the Roscommon defence all day long, scoring three points and playing a big role in both of Mayo’s goals in the second half in a man-of-the-match display.

“I was very, very pleased with him. Great decision making today. That's been something the coaches and ourselves have been working on with him, trying to get into those really deep positions, those premium positions and then making a good decision,” said McStay.

“I think he made a good decision in just about everything that he got in towards today, two or three points anyway. So deserved any accolades he got today and again like that, just ran himself into the ground for me.” He also reserved a word for Aidan O’Shea, who made his 190th appearance for the Green and Red.

“Aidan going to be breaking all sorts of records if he just keeps breathing for another while. He's just an incredible servant to us and one of our great players to wear the jersey. We're just delighted that we have him in our group and he put in another big shift today. Just sacrificed himself for whatever was going on. Kept at it until he was out of juice but gave it a great shot.” On the game, McStay offered: “It kind of went a lot of the way we thought it would go. It was tight at half time and we were hoping that we'd move it on around the third quarter. We kind of did, got a little bit of breathing space with the peno. That's what we envisaged, getting it out to three, four, five (points), and really testing what's coming. But this time around, they pounced on us again.

“You know, beating a team, a Division 1 team, a team that's on the go now five, six, seven years as a group, beat them three times in the one year is bloody hard. It's, you know, because everyone's doing so much work on each other, trying to get any match-up, if you got it wrong the first day, have another go at second day and you'd expect to be able to get it right the third day. So everything then narrows and the game becomes trickier for us.

“If we closed it out a bit tidier, I'd have been a bit happier but I'm not going to look back and whinge about that with the two points.

A concerning aspect of Mayo’s performance, especially in the first half, was the high wide count, but McStay was happy with the amount of chances created and feels the conversion rate will improve.

“The breeze was extremely tricky into that goal. It was coming across the goal, so the ball's been pulled left. But we could have got into slightly better positions we think, and that was OK too. I mean, that's a lot of chances we're creating. We're going to get a little bit easier sights on them. “Second half we did a lot better on that but we had a helping breeze. So the match panned out pretty much as we had felt it might. Thought we might get a little bit more breathing space at the end but didn't. Roscommon just tore into us, kept it going, and brought it right down to the end.” McStay said Fergal Boland's red card may have been a case of ‘mistaken identity at a minimum’ and there would be an appeal if that proves to be the case No, I know what it was for but I'm not going to link Fergal with it because what we understand is its.

“If Fergal has been done an injustice of course we will. I said to the guys here, I'll give up on human nature if it turns out that he hit someone in the elbow off the ball because that ain't his style. There’s always the first time for these things but I'd be highly doubtful.” The biggest test of the season now awaits Mayo in their final group game against All-Ireland champions to see who tops the group and advances straight into the quarter-finals. McStay, who feels the game will likely be played somewhere in the Midlands, said the ‘ultimate challenge’ now awaits them and given some the results across the weekend, including Cork’s shock win over Donegal, that there is plenty of twists and tuns still to come.

“I mean nobody knows where this championship is. I know we're all going around trying to feel our way around it but we don't.

“A lot of the punditry and predictions from last weekend, there's nobody taking any sort of a midterm or long term view on this. Look at the result out of Cork today and the weekend is only warming up.

“The way teams set up now, they're going to stay alive in these games right to the end, just as happened here today. One of those balls flies into net, we're bet by a point. And now the whole thing is shook up. So you'll understand why I'm thrilled about our two points, because we're top of the table. We can't do any more now at the minute.

“It's going to be a great two weeks in training and let's see how things pan out in a fortnight.

Meanwhile, Roscommon manager Davy Burke was critical of the decision to award Ryan O’Donoghue a penalty on the hour mark, where he felt the Mayo forward had taken too many steps.

“Eight steps are eight steps. Were we not looking at Sean Bugler a month ago 14 steps in Croke Park and was there not a big clampdown on steps? Game being decided on eight steps by Ryan O'Donoghue. Was there not a penalty shout at the other end that he gave for a free out? Some of these decisions are baffling.

“We had a black card in Croke Park. For the first time ever, I think it was the first time in history a black card was given for a man in front. Eoin McCormack was in front and he got a black card. Look, when you are the poor old Rossies you don't get these calls, do you?” He also believed Roscommon could have had a second penalty when Daire Cregg’s shot on goal came off the foot of Matthew Ruane in added time.

“The first one Diarmuid Murtagh was through and he gave a free out. Daire Cregg takes a shot at goal and it's a foot block. The fourth official saw Ryan O'Donoghue's was a penalty but never saw any Roscommon decisions. It's very funny, isn't it? Look lads, it is what it is.”