Irish Daily Star - Inside Sport
MAYO SET FOR KEVIN OR HELL
THERE are two Kevin McStays.
We saw the public face when he faced the cameras and the microphones after Mayo’s League final win over Galway last Sunday.
He was clearly happy at a rare national title at senior level for the county. The smiles kept coming. His eyes were smiling too, but his words were guarded. Understandably, so.
“I’m relieved, most of all, quite satisfied, delighted — and there is a part of me saying, ‘Cool down now’, because we have to get ready for next Sunday,’’ he said.
“That’s just the pity of it, the timing side of it, but there’s nothing anybody can do about that.”
The timing side. Tomorrow, Mayo take on Roscommon in a Connacht Championship quarter-final — the team that finished third in Division One.
Block
When they met in the League last month, Mayo won by two points — but only a brilliant Diarmuid O’Connor block late on stopped Roscommon’s Ben O’Carroll from finding the net.
So you can understand why Mayo were conflicted last Sunday. The chances of a mugging a week on are significant.
Back to the two Kevin
McStays.
We saw another face to him when he allowed a camera crew to track him and his Roscommon team during the 2017 season for a documentary.
That year had started on a low ebb, with a host of players pulling out of the panel, and a disastrous League with six defeats on the trot.
McStay had to put up with ferocious criticism within the county but he knew the summer might be different, because of the draw.
Roscommon had to win just one game — against Leitrim
— to reach the
Connacht final.
They did that without fuss but Galway were up against them in the decider in Pearse Stadium, somewhere Roscommon hadn’t won a provincial final since 1978.
Speech
The Rossies started the stronger, though, and at halftime, McStay smelled blood.
His speech that was captured on camera was old school in its ferocity and passion but it was what his team needed.
“We’re Roscommon people, we’ll go like f**k. I know ye will not stop, it’s yer’ nature. Don’t have any regrets about the next 35 minutes of yer’ lives. Whatever it takes now, we’re going to survive, and we’re going to f***ing win.’’
One man who thinks McStay will f***ing win tomorrow is Manus Boyle — one of the few who knows the kind of situation Mayo find themselves in.
There has been only one other instance of a team having to play a League final on one Sunday and a huge Championship game just seven days later.
That was in 1995. Donegal lost the League final to Derry and then had to get ready to take on the reigning All-Ireland champions in the Ulster preliminary round — the stakes were massive because it was straight knockout.
To complicate things even further, they had to play both games under a different set of rules.
In that year’s League, an experimental rule had been brought in which disallowed successive hand-passes.
Donegal’s situation was different to Mayo 2023 and Boyle, who’d end up getting the manof-the-match award after he helped topple Down, remembers a different kind of build-up.
Cranky
“Coming back from Dublin on the bus, we were cranky. There were harsh words between players. We got at it with each other,’’ he said.“There was a fair amount of experience there and we knew you don’t get many chances, there was no back door system, and we had to park the League final and move on.
“Patsy McGonagle was training us and he was a hugely-positive character within the group and that helped.
“We used to go to Ballybofey to train and myself and Noel Hegarty suggested we go to Fintra (just outside Killybegs) instead.
“That’s where we went on the Tuesday night. Did 40 minutes on the pitch, went to the beach, and had a bite to eat.
“There was no talk of Derry. Between what was said on the bus and Patsy’s positivity and experience of top-level athletics, we got zoned in on Down.
“He knew what buttons to push with different people.’’
Hardly any Donegal player had performed against Derry. One week on, nearly all delivered.
One reason why McStay may well be extremely wary is due to
Mayo’s history.
Look what happened to them following their last three League wins — in 2019, 2001 and 1970.
Different
They failed to come out of Connacht. Who beat them on each of those occasions? Roscommon.
This time, though, Boyle feels there will be a different outcome.
“I watched both Roscommon and Mayo a lot in the League. Roscommon started very strongly but then lost three games in a row and their last match was them beating a Donegal team that were just a shambles,’’ he said.
“I was far more impressed with Mayo. They just seem to really know what they’re at. And they’re very calm and composed, they’re not confrontational.
“A national title is a national title.You’re on top of the world but you still know that you’re going to be judged on the Championship.
“You could win 10 Leagues and one All-Ireland, and the 10 Leagues disappear...
“Mayo will be fully tuned in for Sunday, and I’d expect them to win.”
two sides to boss Mcstay can help the le ague champs with quick turnaround