Kevin McStay praises ‘pleasing’ Mayo performance against Derry

THE old political slogan ‘A lot done, more to do,’ would have been an apt description of the Mayo attitude after Sunday’s victory in Derry. Kevin McStay and team captain Stephen Coen spoke to the media after the match and expressed satisfaction with the result while also looking towards the intriguing challenges awaiting down the track.

“We’re coming towards the end of the league now so we wanted to see a performance today and we got it,” McStay began.
“The performance from beginning to end was pleasing. We had eight or nine different scorers and got scores at key moments which gave us a good bit of oxygen.

“We managed the last quarter well and didn’t give away any significant goal, which was really good. We conceded some two-pointers in the closing stages and we will have to look at that, but all-in-all, the journey home will be a lot easier,” he added before speaking about the performance of midfielder Matthew Ruane, who ended the day with six points to his name.

“The performance didn’t surprise me. That’s what we’re seeing on the training ground in the last few weeks. Once you start adding scoring to the number of threats you already have that changes the way someone has to defend you. Remember, (his direct opponent) Conor Glass had his moments too, so we’ll be talking to Mattie about that too, but in an overall sense kicking six points was really terrific. He got them with both feet, he got them from standing positions and got them at the end of runs, so today was his day and I congratulate him.”

The next question focused on his squad’s injury list.

“It’s a balancing act keeping everyone in the squad happy. We left a number of players at home today to play club football while others did conditioning work. Bringing a player like Doc (Diarmuid O’Connor) up here to be a sub and not using him wouldn’t be a good decision when he could be playing with Ballintubber and getting a bit of work done. It’s a long season. We have ten or 12 matches left in this year yet and we’ll have a very strong panel when things get serious,” he concluded.
Soon, Stephen Coen was discussing matters and telling reporters he was delighted with the win.

“We knew it was going to be tough. We’re pleased to have put in a dogged performance and build momentum into next week. It was a ground battle and a savage effort in the middle of the field. They have some savage players and if you give them space they’re going to hurt you. It’s going to be that way every day from now on for the rest of the year. It’s so important to produce a 70-minute performance and we’re not there yet.”

What does he think of the new rules?

“I’m enjoying them. It stimulates your mind and we have a lot of smart players and we need to follow their direction as well as we can,” he added before being asked about the excellent display produced by Matthew Ruane.

“Mattie has worked extremely hard over the past few weeks. He’s a grinder and puts in a massive shift. Those scores are just a by-product of his overall performance.”