HE MAKES NO BONES about it, Mayo came to Roscommon looking to beat Dublin, insists Kevin McStay.
“The draw gets us nowhere. We went for the win. I hope it looked to everybody that we were trying to win it and we gave it a great shot,” he said after the final round game that leaves Mayo looking at a preliminary quarter-final this coming weekend, played in Castlebar.
That will be against Derry, Cork or Monaghan. Do-or-die stuff, but it felt like the do-or-die stuff had already landed in Hyde Park.
“My big emotion is how proud I am in the group that we stayed to our own business the last few months, worked hard to get ourselves into a position to take on the champions and a point up with a minute to go we were so close to it,” said McStay.
“They (Dublin) are a super team. To win a kick-out and somehow get the ball out of the scrum and they came up with a point. It’s just disappointing that we go into a prelim but this time it’s at home so there is a completely different vibe about it this year compared to last year.”
With a home draw, McStay doesn’t really know if there is any added pressure. With Mayo, he might argue, there is always pressure.
“I just asked who are the four teams and straight away I’d be on red alert,” he said.
“They only have the week as well, but the home venue in terms of no travel involved, there’s no overnight involved and it’s on our home pitch.
“We’d like to think we died for the cause today and Mayo people will say they are worth following and worth supporting and we get a big crowd out. If we play at that level, we are going to have a great chance to get to the quarter-final by the preliminary route, and that’s what I’d be expecting. But we have to manage the week carefully, but we have a little bit of experience of how to do that now.”
Manging the week means managing Eoghan McLoughlin, who went off here with an injury after half an hour.
“It started with an ankle, then it went into a knee and ultimately he had a tight hamstring and he was afraid it would pop on him so we couldn’t take that chance,” said McStay.
“A week is tight now, but that’s the rhythm we are involved in and screaming for and trying to get. We don’t have the fortnight now, so everything tightens – medically, rest, recovery and all that. But I think we’ll certainly have a strong 15 for next weekend.”
As for Dublin, manager Dessie Farrell was typically cool about the frantic nature of their late, late equaliser.
Asked if there was panic on the sideline as Mayo went one up in time added on, he answered, “I don’t think so. We have practised these situations in training. Every team in the country is doing that.
“There is a lot of experience there within the 15 that finished, a lot of youth as well in terms of newer players bringing the energy and bringing that vitality that we knew we needed.”
He added, “It showed great character. It’s something we talk about a lot. You are never truly tested in that department until the fat is the fryer so to speak.
“It was last ditch stuff and they showed their composure to make it happen.”
How much of it is rehearsed in training?
“The game has gone very sophisticated in terms of moves and plays and different patterns and different styles and different approaches,” said Farrell.
“There’s a lot of thought gone into various different aspects of the game but ultimately at the end of the day it’s about the talent you have on the pitch in those moments and when you combine that with a bit of experience the lads have as well, thankfully you come out of the right side of some of those plays.”
Dublin manage it when the pressure is at its greatest.
