This will help against Dubs, says McStay
MAYO manager Kevin McStay said the prospect of facing All-Ireland champions Dublin at MacHale Park next Saturday night represents the perfect reality check after his team inflicted another humbling defeat on Galway yesterday.
A 2-12 to 0-10 victory saw Mayo open their Allianz Football League campaign in slick and impressive fashion, bossing this encounter with their fierce rivals from start to finish.
But McStay is around long enough to know that the first round of the National League is no place for grand pronouncements about the year ahead.
‘There’s no eternal truths in round one, I can assure you. But two points in the bag puts you a little bit in charge of what might happen over the next few matches in terms of better to have two now than be chasing two,’ said the former Roscommon manager.
‘We have Dublin next Saturday — that will fairly sober us up. And if we’re going into that with zero everything gets a bit tighter. But now, maybe, we can look at it through a slightly different lens.’
He didn’t quite agree with the view from outside that it was a comfortable win at Pearse Stadium in Salthill.
‘It never feels comfortable when we’re up here. It just doesn’t. That’s not the nature of the contest. But I think we saw it out nicely, I’d be happy enough with that.
‘At the end of the day, other than a good start and two points, it’s January and you know things are going to be dramatically different down the road.’
Fergal Boland was one player who caught the eye, the dual star chipping in with three classy points from play plus an assist for Eoghan McLoughlin’s first-half goal. ‘I’m delighted for him,’ said McStay after the player had been previously cut from the squad and travelled briefly to Australia. ‘I’m thrilled. I know ye think Fergal has had a difficult journey. Fergal and us are fantastic. We have a great relationship. He has really gone after this with all his heart, and he got his just rewards. He had a really good performance, tired a little bit, which is totally understandable — he’s not too long back from Australia.
‘We’re delighted. He’s just a really top panel member and he gives it everything every day he goes out and that’s good enough for me.’
His Galway counterpart Pádraic Joyce made no excuses about the defeat even if star attacker Damien Comer was ruled out with a hamstring niggle.
‘It is disappointing, obviously disappointing. But it is the first League game of the year at the same time,’ insisted Joyce.
‘I think we did damage to ourselves in the first half more so than anything else. We showed a bit of character in the second half, a bit of fight but look the first half we weren’t at the races really and I think it is a long time since we kicked 11 wides and 10 points. That tells the tale.’
Joyce revealed that towering Moycullen player Peter Cooke would not be part of the Galway squad for 2024. ‘Peter is not available. He is not committing to the squad. That is it.’ – and that Damien Comer was ‘going really well’ until he ‘picked up a knock on Thursday and we weren’t going to chance him.’