Lion-hearted Mayo show their strength and weakness in Roscommon

There'll be plenty for Kevin McStay to reflect on after Hyde Park meeting.

Mayo manager Kevin McStay is interviewed at Dr Hyde Park in Roscommon. Pic: Ben McShane/Sportsfile

Don’t try to understand it. Feel it. Mayo’s capacity to excite and confound was on full display in Dr Hyde Park. There’ll be plenty of positives in their post-match review and they’ll struggle to make sense of how it came so close to slipping away in the end.

Somehow, a contest that they looked comfortable was suddenly struck with a sense of gnawing peril. Seconds before the clock ticked to 70 minutes, Mayo led by six points. Then Sam Callinan conceded a penalty and Conor Cox converted it.