Kevin McStay says ‘patchy’ Mayo need ‘significant improvement’ after Sligo victory

Mayo manager Kevin McStay has said a ‘significant improvement’ will be needed on their performance after what he called a ‘patchy’ display against Sligo. 

Having led by ten points at one stage in the game, Mayo’s lead was pared back by two second-half goals and two late two-pointers from Sligo.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, McStay said his team had ‘a load of work to get done for the semi-final’. 

“We couldn’t get any flow to the game, a bit patchy. So that would be my overall sense,” said McStay. 

“Just not enough flow to the game from our perspective. Probably happy to get out of it in terms of we’ve been on the road the last four weekends, and two of them were long journeys to Derry and Dublin. So in a match we probably hadn’t planned for but obviously had to go for it as best we could. Today we were a little bit flat.”

McStay said that back-to-back games against Derry, Donegal and Kerry had ‘taken a lot out’ of the team in the preceding four weeks. 

This, he said, was a factor in Mayo ‘not gaining enough momentum when we won key ball, just turning it over a little bit cheaply, just finding it hard to get rhythm’ against Tony McEntee’s Sligo. 

Read further reaction from Kevin McStay in Tuesday’s Mayo News.