HORAN’S TRIBUTE TO HIS PLAYERS’ COVID RESPONSE

MAYO boss James Horan paid tribute to the ‘concentration’ and ‘focus’ of his players as they put Covid-19 issues behind them to hammer Leitrim in the Connacht championship semifinal yesterday. Horan admitted that these problems in the Westerners’ camp meant that the reigning Connacht champions had a ‘different’ and ‘difficult’ week. But despite a number of players being ruled out as a consequence, Mayo’s strength-indepth and quality proved invaluable. ‘Preparation was difficult, some of the stuff we had to do was incredible, [like] testing regimes that we had to go through in the last 36 hours. ‘We went through that, followed everything, and you saw the focus today. ‘It’s a credit to the players. ‘Anything they were asked to do they just got on with it. ‘They enjoy their football and that’s all they want to do. ‘We had a number of guys out as a result,’ explained Horan. Mayo now have two weeks to prepare for their Connacht Final clash with Galway, but their manager believes that Covid19 could be an issue for other teams. ‘All I can tell you is that we’ve stuck to everything all year, from a training point of view and all the guidelines. Maybe with the age group or whatever, and Cúl Camps, it’s tricky. ‘And it’s going to be tricky for everyone, not just us.’ Meanwhile, Leitrim manager Terry Hyland said he fears for the future of the championship after his team’s defeat. ‘We were outclassed and outgunned in most sectors of the pitch, and just weren’t fit to live with them. There’s no point in me trying to gloss over that,’ said the Cavan native. ‘That’s the difference between the teams in the top divisions and the bottom divisions. ‘They call it an AllIreland but, unfortunately, it’s not an All-Ireland. It’s probably the top five or six counties. My fear is that in ten years’ time it will go like rugby and you’ll see the small, or socalled ‘weaker counties’ being feeders to the bigger teams. And TV and money come into play. I have this fear that’s how it’s going to go.’