McStay says Mayo have ‘no interest in moral victories’

There must have been a myriad of emotions swirling through Kevin McStay's mind when he spoke to the assembled media after Sunday's match in Roscommon. The stadium was still throbbing. There were still thousands of people on the pitch when the Ballina man was being asked to put words on a roller-coaster of a contest which never allowed viewers take their eyes from the action.

Mayo had been a point up as the sands of time trickled away, so did the share of the spoils actually feel like a defeat?

"It doesn't feel like a defeat, and at the same time, we have no interest in moral victories either. We got ourselves into a great position. I hope people realise now we were trying to win the game.

"The nonsense, the people were waffling about, about saving yourself for next week. We gave it our best shot, but look, Dublin are a terrific team. It was very hard to see how they'd come back from that, but if one team can do, they can,” McStay stated before speaking about pride.

"Look, we'll chew over that in the next 48 hours, but what I want to put on record is just how proud I am of our team. We asked for a big effort to represent the county well today in a significant fixture, kind of the marquee fixture of the weekend, and I really felt we did that.

"We went so deep into the well and almost pulled it off, and we executed really well under pressure and just got clipped at the end."

Mayo went a point clear with 40 seconds to play, yet allowed Ciaran Kilkenny field a kick-out in the middle of the field and set in train the move which levelled the scores. What should Mayo players have done when Kilkenny won the ball?

“You had to foul him. It might be cynical but that's the way our game is now. Rugby tackle - shoot him – get a rope – do anything, but he couldn't get out of that scramble, or huddle or ruck. Ten Mayo men should have jumped on top of him, but he suddenly got the ball out and they got it up into the penalty area very quickly,” he added.

The result sent Dublin directly into the quarter-final and dispatched McStay's team to this Saturday's clash with Derry in Castlebar. It hadn't been the primary plan.

"We were obviously preparing to go straight into a quarter-final. That was our objective. It hasn't happened so we're going to readjust. We did it previously. We learned a lot from last year and how we managed it."

"We won't be feeling sorry for ourselves. We’re in this Championship. We feel we're going to have a say in this Championship still. We have a home venue next weekend and we'll adjust our load now for the weekend.”

Nearby, Dublin manager Dessie Farrell was equally pleased with his players for passing a test of character and securing a home quarter-final in a fortnight.

He explained: "It was a very, very tough encounter. We expected it, to be honest. Mayo are a great side and had made significant improvement since their defeat to Galway.

"Watching them over their last couple of games, you could see they definitely made some serious adjustments. And we were going to be in for a right battle today, and it panned out that way, it went down to the wire.

"It just showed that great character [to come back in the dying seconds]. It's something we talk about a lot. You’re never truly tested in that apartment until the fat is in the fire. It was last-ditch stuff and we had to show composure to make it happen."