Mayo boss McStay praises Leitrim fight but shifts focus to Connacht final

The Mayo manager was full of praise for Leitrim’s performance after the game, as his side were pushed hard by the green and gold. He insisted they were not taking their opponents for granted.

“When you're listening to narratives about there's a great chance to rest players and change your team, I don't know where this madness comes from. People think in the Championship matches you can be experimenting with six or seven players. It doesn't work like that. It's never worked like that. It never will work like that in the Championship, where one team is going after the other.”

“We know Leitrim have a handful plus of really good players,” he said, adding that they “had a couple of players from the Railway Cup, some of them have good Sigerson pedigree as well and so on. And they gave a great account of themselves.”

McStay highlighted the pressure Mayo were under in the middle of the field—an area, he admitted, they never really got to grips with. Praise given, he quickly turned his attention to the next test: the Connacht final.

“It’s about us now because we’re in the final, and my focus and concentration is getting the very best out of the team we’ve prepared for six months now for this match … We have to hope now that the plan we have for the Connacht final, in terms of peaking and bringing our best performance to the table, that’s when we see it in two weeks’ time.”

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Mayo’s substitutes played a massive role in the closing stages, with key scores from Paul Towey steadying the ship for the green and red when needed.

Despite being a game to forget in many ways for Mayo, it was a memorable one for Aidan O’Shea, who made his 200th appearance for the county.

“That’s a huge milestone for any footballer,” said McStay. “I was telling him in my day if you got to 50 they sent you home a crest for your blazer. We're going to buy him four blazers, I think. Back in those days if you got 50 you felt you had a decent career. And then we have a man in our midst that has 200 played. It’s truly magnificent."