“It’s a very hard one to take” - McStay on Mayo's Galway loss

There's no doubt about it in the cold light of day. That game was one that got away from Mayo.

The Green and Red reeled in Padraic Joyce’s men, and come the last few hurdles, Mayo had managed to pull themselves back to be neck-and-neck with the finish line in sight.

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However, when the fat was in the fire and the Tribesmen were there to be taken, a series of offensive blunders ultimately cost them.

At least, that seemed to be the view of Kevin McStay.

“That's another big game down the stretch that we feel we could have won,” he stated following Sunday’s defeat. “Until we start taking those chances and putting the pressure on our opponents, that's going to be our lot. It's a very hard one to take, because we know we had chances to win it.

"They were the moments that we could have put the pressure on Galway to a certain extent. But against a significant breeze, they went back up the pitch and got their noses in front again and kept us chasing, and it should have been really the other way around.”

The performance of the man in the middle, Paddy Neilan, was one that generated plenty of conversation in the terraces and on the airwaves. His decision to award Galway a penalty was questionable, and there were times for both sides where a free seemed imminent, but wasn’t given.

However, McStay refused to be drawn into commenting on the Roscommon réiteoir’s decision-making.

“I don't have a TV, obviously, on the sideline, so I don't know,” the Mayo manager quipped, “but what I'll say is, in the pre-match commentary, I said we have no excuses. And we don't.

"All these things would have been irrelevant if we looked after those moments you're talking about.”

Naturally, the questions were going to come about Paddy Durcan. The Castlebar Mitchels man has been sorely missed since he suffered a cruciate injury last year against Cavan.

He was listed on the bench, but wasn’t brought into the fray on Sunday.

McStay believes the game came just too soon for Durcan, but that he’ll be back in time for the All-Ireland series curtain-raiser against, ironically, Cavan.

“Paddy has just been reintegrated now,” said McStay. “He's had maybe four weeks, three weeks of it at this stage.

“He's obviously going to be getting better and better for the Round Robin. He is the team captain. We wanted him to lead us through the weekend. He's in great physical shape. But he hasn't played much football.”

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For McStay, although the defeat was fresh in his mind, he was still able to see the fact that there’s plenty of football to be played this Summer, and referenced that legendary 2024 Armagh run.

“We can maybe take some solace from the Armagh effort. This time last year, they lost a very tight Ulster final, and they were able to resurrect their season and keep it going.”