Moran: 'I'm the manager of the team, we have to take responsibility for it'

After Roscommon dismantle Mayo's kickout, manager admits 'We just lost the ground battle, we lost the battle in the air, we lost the battle on the ground for the breaks'

Sun, 26 Apr, 2026 - 10:30

Maurice Brosnan

The demolition of their kickout was a particular disappointment for Mayo boss Andy Moran as his side fell to a ten-point defeat in the Connacht SFC semi-final against Roscommon.

Speaking post-match, Moran credited the away side for their second-half surge.

“We just lost the ground battle, we lost the battle in the air, we lost the battle on the ground for the breaks and in this new game, I think it has been seen over this weekend, it is the hungrier team that seems to be coming out on top.”

Mayo made several early changes but were unable to break Roscommon’s run.

“I'm the manager of the team, we have to take responsibility for it," he insisted. "We tried to twist it, turn it everywhere we could but once momentum goes against you here, unless you get a bit of luck and you can get it back in, once momentum goes against you we just could not wrestle it back.”

In the end, Roscommon sourced 1-11 from Mayo’s kickout.

“You can't legislate for the first goal, those things happen, but then after that it was very, very disappointing. I didn't know that was the stat but that is hugely disappointing. I know Robbie (Hennelly) will be hugely disappointed with that tonight.”

One silver lining was the performance from AFL-bound Kobe McDonald. He kicked six points in a terrific individual display.

“He is a great kid, a Connacht U20 final on Wednesday, but I just couldn't not play him," said Moran. "He was the best player in the A vs B game last week so he had to play him. You have to play a kid like that when you have him but listen it shows what we're losing as well.”

Meanwhile, Roscommon boss Mark Dowd was delighted to give the traveling support reason to flood the field afterwards.

“That was brilliant to see, but no matter what team you are, if you're giving them something to shout about, they're going to come out and support you and I feel that is what we're doing at the moment.

“Maybe in the past we didn't give them, and they were not going to show up. But when you give them something to shout about, they'll get behind us and they'll back us.”

Several St Brigid’s players played a club league game on Friday night. Dowd explained Brian Stack and Ruaidhrí Fallon are still returning after recent injuries.

“Stacky and Rory there, they've made great strides in getting themselves back. There were conversations we had with them during the week to say how far advanced they were.

“We were happy between us all that we said, let's get a game with the club, get that under ye. No matter what happened today, there was always going to be other games coming down the track; they are now in a better position for that.”