McStay wants to make MacHale Park a 'fortress' but knows talk is cheap

FORTRESS MACHALE: Mayo manager Kevin McStay, left, and assistant manager Stephen Rochford during a Mayo GAA press conference at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park in Castlebar, Mayo. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

The new Mayo management are keen for the team to make Hastings Insurance MacHale Park “a fortress” but Kevin McStay knows it’s easier said than done.

Between league and championship, Mayo’s home form has been disappointing for several seasons. However, there is a guarantee of a championship game in Castlebar in 2023 in either the newly-formatted Sam Maguire or Tailteann Cup on top of the Division 1 games and it is a focus for the group.

“It is very important and I can say it’s vital and be beat in the first round out here in January and what does it mean then?” McStay said in the stadium last night. “Is it something we talk about? It is, yeah, it is, and we have a fabulous new stadium.

“I was down here on Monday, got a tour around the place from the staff, I was out on the pitch and we really have a stadium to be proud of. That’s the positive side I want to take from the stadium. It’s a beautiful new surface, dressing room area, the warm-up, this is a class stadium.

“Do we want to make it a fortress? We’d love to do it and we’re saying we’re doing but you lose your first home National League match and that’s that plan up in smoke. But it is on our minds because we will have championship games at home please God, so it is on our minds to make this a difficult place to come to.

“If we get the performances right then this does become a difficult place because we know we’re going to have big support here. So we’re going to have a raucous enough 10,000 bodies in here supporting Mayo in every National League match but if we can deliver the performances we might make the place difficult to come to.”