MAYO WON’T BE resting on their laurels after defeating Tyrone today to book a place in the All-Ireland football final for the second year in a row, indeed they’re going straight back to work.
When asked by RTE after the game if this year’s impressive displays left them feeling more confident going into the All-Ireland decider, midfielder Aidan O’Shea was quick to dismiss any thoughts of his county getting ahead of themselves
“I don’t know if we’re much more confident but we were very confident going into last year’s final and things didn’t go well in the first ten.
“Look, we’ll knuckle down, we’ve a session in the morning and training on Wednesday so we’ll get back to work.”
He was also quick to heap praise on Mayo’s vanquished opponents, particularly for their first half performance.
“Fair play to Tyrone today, we knew they’d make it hard on us, especially in the first half.
“We struggled today to be honest but regrouped at the half and we upped the tempo big time at the start of the second half and that was the changing of the game.”
There was steeliness about the Mayo performance today, despite question marks over the side’s ability to overcome adversity, particularly when they found themselves four points down with just three minutes of the opening period left.
However, O’Shea and his team-mates were not going to let the game run away from them:
“I suppose we missed a good few chances early in the first half but the game was only 35 minutes old and there was no panic or anything.”
Mayo were roared home by a passionate support and the Breaffy clubman was in no doubt they would be the 16th man come September 22.
“They’re the best supporters in the country. With the minors winning too, it’s going to be some day [in Croke Park] in a few weeks.”
