Three times the charm for Mayo and McStay

STRAY elbows, injury updates, venues and sideline balls were among the issues Kevin McStay fielded during a rather busy post-match interview in the sunny Hyde on Saturday evening.

“Playing a team like Roscommon three times in the space of a few months is such a difficult ask - because they learn so much from every game – every team does,” the long-time Roscommon resident said.

“We go back and study tapes and so on, so we knew it would be tight. We thought we had a gap when our peno’ went in, and then the Rossies’ peno’ brought it all back on top of us, so I would have definitely taken that result yesterday - 2-14 is a good score, so we're happy with the result.”

An eventful final quarter included the red-carding of Fergal Boland for an alleged ‘stray elbow’ into one of the Roscommon players.

Boland protested his innocence after getting his marching orders from Barry Cassidy. His manager, though not casting any verdict, suggested that Cassidy punished the wrong man.

“I’m not 100 percent sure because we haven’t seen the tape. At the least it’s mistaken identity,” said McStay.

“I know Fergal for many years. If he hit that, I know nothing about human nature. But I’d be very surprised if Fergal was involved in any of that. If it’s mistaken identity, it’s a kind of a pity because a fella has to leave the game. Look, I know the officials are under pressure. We are all under these pressures and they make these calls as best they can.”

According to McStay there were “a few of those moments in the match; a sideline ball on my side wasn't out at all in the first half and ends up in a Roscommon point.”

He was quite irate about that one. So much so that he gave the sideline official a piece of his mind.

“These are big moments. Supposing the game was won or lost by a single point? There was a shot in the second half that was about four yards wide, and the umpire doesn’t know what he’s doing and looks over at the other umpire. A few of those bangs we didn’t get today and it’s a little bit disappointing on that front, but we’re through and you are not going to hear me complaining,” he commented.

Roscommon manager Davy Burke felt it was his side’s best performance out of three games against Mayo this year.

“I’m delighted with our lads. They stayed at it, kicked at it. And we’re the ones pushing on near the end, looking for goal chances or whatever it was. They could have easily fell away after probably a poor enough goal to concede,” Burke told The Mayo News.

He was less happy with the number of steps Ryan O’Donoghue took before winning his penalty.

“I think Ryan might have made a few too many steps. It wasn’t called anyway. The game can swing on them decisions but it’s a very strong Mayo team, they’re a right good side. We’re a right good side. They’ve beaten us three times this year. It hurts, it hurts for Roscommon people, it hurts for me, we have Cavan in two weeks’ time and that’s where our focus is now.”