Fortunate Mcstay of execution in the USA
MAYO BOSS KEV RECALLS NEAR MISS FOR ROSSIES IN BIG APPLE
KEVIN MCSTAY remembers a conversation with then Roscommon chairman Seamus Sweeney as his managerial career flashed in front of him in New York eight years ago.
His Roscommon side, which he managed jointly with Fergal O’donnell at that time, had squeaked a one-point victory at Gaelic Park in the Connacht quarter-final.
The fallout, had it gone the other way, would have been considerable. Sweeney told him his head, along with Mcstay’s and O’donnell’s, would have rolled.
It would have also inflicted a headache on administrators as to how they would handle New York moving on in the Championship and, potentially, the qualifiers, as well as how Roscommon would be accommodated.
“Myself and Fergal and the county chairman would probably have had to resign before we got to JFK on Monday evening,” recalled Mcstay.
“And then for Connacht CEO John Prenty and his warriors, they hadn’t envisaged a defeat so the qualifier competition – I don’t know the fine print of it – but I remember him saying there was no rule for Roscommon to be back in the competition.”
Roscommon had done well in Division One that year and, though they suffered a heavy League semi-final defeat to Kerry, there was no sense that they were vulnerable to becoming the first county to lose a Championship game to New York.
But as the game entered its climax, the home side had all the momentum.
Mcstay added: “They sure had. I don’t particularly want to revisit those moments! I’ve gone through the therapy and out the other end. They were super on the day and Roscommon weren’t as good as we wanted to be.
“And it got very, very tight. They’d a chance, I remember, they went around the keeper to kick the ball into an empty net and I think the New York lad got a little bit casual and Geoff Claffey put out his boot and it spun over the bar.
“And now it’s squeaky. But I remember we put on Senan Kilbride and he kicked a monster from the wrong side – he was a ciotog, a very accurate ciotog, but he was on the left side, out on the sideline, and he put it over the bar. I do not know how he did it.”
The season petered out disappointingly for Roscommon and Mcstay ended up taking sole charge the following year, when he delivered a Connacht title, without which his CV may not have carried the weight to land him the Mayo job.
Now in his second season, it’s their turn to travel to New York for a Championship opener this weekend.
They’ll jet off tomorrow, have a couple of kickabouts on Friday and Saturday, play the game on Sunday and fly back Monday.
An expected Connacht semi against Roscommon will be in the offing less than two weeks later.
And while Mcstay makes the point that the trip takes a significant chunk out of their training schedule, he refuses to disrespect the fixture or the concept.
He continued: “I’m very proud of the Connacht Championship. I value the couple of medals I got in this Championship, as all our players do.
“There’s incredible rivalries here in the home counties and no doubt London and New York have added to it.
“So I would never picture it as a hassle. It’s a Championship game that we have to manage – and manage professionally and correctly. I am absolutely sure we will do that.
“It’s certainly not a hassle, we’re looking forward to meeting our Mayo families over in New York after the game. It is a Championship game, after all.
“That’s always better than a few training sessions, no matter what the logistics of the trip are. And we’ll get to see lads in a real Championship setting and see how they do.”
Having won the League title last year and then been sent packing in Connacht by Roscommon seven days later, Mayo never had the look of a side that was hellbent on retaining their crown this spring.
“Last year we had Roscommon which was a very sobering day for us – but no, we’d have taken a League final if we made it,” Mcstay insisted.
“We didn’t set out not to be in the League final but we’d different objectives as well and maybe that adds up to not quite making the League final.”