Kevin McStay: ‘I’m not broken or anything over this defeat’

Mayo's season came to a close at the hands of the Dubs once again.

Sun, 02 Jul, 2023 - 17:30

Maurice Brosnan

A second-half blue blitz left it all feeling very déjà vu. This is a new Mayo, manager Kevin McStay was keen to stress post-match, but after the turnaround they looked like the old Mayo as Dublin tore them asunder just like 2019.

That tie four years ago was Dublin’s biggest championship victory over Mayo. On Sunday in Croke Park they bettered it. 12 points was the margin at the final whistle. Dessie Farrell’s side scored 1-3 without reply in the second half as Mayo went 24 minutes without a score, including the period just before the break.

“Their press on our kickout was very, very good,” McStay said. “We got a bit of joy, but not enough joy and it is frightening when they press up on you. And again, I would say that’s a rookie goalie – he is a baby goalie in terms of championship and senior experience, but what he has done this year has been really good for Mayo, and he can be one of Mayo’s big keepers in the next 10 years if he wants to be.

“So he has had an overall season that he has to reflect and see the good parts of as well. That was the big experience for him today, to come up against that press and by enlarge he managed it, but it was tough.”

The goal was to win their kickout up high. Instead 1-1 stemmed from that source. They couldn’t win it clean and were beaten on the breaks.

“We are not good enough at it yet,” admitted McStay. “We are not up with the top teams in terms of our kickout yet but we will be, I have no doubt we will.

“We have great lads around it that will think it through and figure it out, and we will get more experience; that is my own view and we will be better for this. It is our first year together as a group and we are just finding each other out and figuring each other out.

“I’ve learned a lot about the boys and I’m sure they’ve tried to figure us out a bit as well, but overall I’m not broken or anything over this defeat. I’m disappointed for the big Mayo crowd that came up as they always do, but we’ll take a break now to try and figure out where we have to go to next to get to another level.”