Mayo still ‘a work in progress’, says Kevin McStay

HE regularly insists that the national league is all about building for the championship and the results of matches in February shouldn’t cause too much elation or devastation, but there was a glint in Kevin McStay’s eye on Sunday afternoon.

He had watched his side battle their way past Tyrone. The first league points of the season had been secured and it was time to put words on what the victory meant.

“I think it was deserved. We worked very hard in terms of the effort, massive, right to the very end and I’m delighted with that. We won a few critical balls the last four or five minutes, so I’m very pleased, and very pleased with the reaction over the last fortnight.

“Some of our numbers were very good the last two games. That’s overlooked sometimes. Just finishing, and areas like that we tried to tidy up. We’re a work in progress. It’s two points that we went after and two points that we’re delighted to get.”

Had there been pressure on Mayo and McStay to get a result before Sunday’s clash?

“It’s the round three of the league. The pressure of a result, that’s not something we’re talking about down in the dressing room. We’re talking about the game on its merits. Every National League game is a building block towards the summer. We got three lads back today, Aidan (O’Shea) and Jordan (Flynn) and Jack Coyne. And Eoin O’Donoghue got a great look in the corner and a few other lads that we’ve been looking at did really well. So that’s all positive. But the result was needed today, results help the morale of everything we’re doing.”

The appearance of Flynn, Eoin O’Donoghue, Darren McHale and Cian McHale in the starting team had taken many by surprise given that the team list issued to the press on Friday had none of them included, but McStay had a simple explanation.

“Tyrone had the same number of changes I think. We have to have it (the squad list) in Croke Park at nine o’clock Thursday morning and we train Thursday. Sometimes we train Friday. It wouldn’t be paying much respect to the lads if I was picking a team on a Wednesday and we were training on a Thursday. I mean, what would that make the Thursday session, really?

“They’re the rules, we play by the rules on the understanding that if we lost guys through, you know, a niggle, an illness, and then the thing changes. So, the easiest thing for us to do is just say: ‘well, last week’s team’.”

The next query concerned Mayo’s injury list.

“It’s very positive. Diarmuid (O’Connor) and Paddy (Durcan) and Tommy Conroy, we’re going to see them very soon now, certainly going to see them in the league, and that’s going to be a big boost for us as well.

“Another positive for us is that guys we’ve been trying, by necessity perhaps in some instances, have been really doing well. They’ve been making big efforts. Not perfection, but big efforts for the minutes they’re getting. So, we’re going in the right direction.”