EARLY IN HIS first season as Mayo senior football boss and already Kevin McStay has an entry for the CV, a title delivered in a national final in Croke Park.
It is a setting that has generated enough misery for the Mayo football fraternity but any sense of wild celebration this evening will be quickly parked.
The 2023 GAA calendar alters the mindset, it is only seven days to championship throw-in with Roscommon coming to town in Castlebar.
The Mayo manager’s reaction summed up the conflicting feelings.
“Relieved, satisfied, delighted. and there is a part of me saying, ‘cool down now,’ because we have to get ready for next Sunday. That’s just the pity of it, the timing side of it. But overall I’m just delighted. It’s great to come up and win a national title, so very pleased.
“I’m very wary of how dangerous next week’s fixture is and there is part of me already where my brain is jumping to that, I’m kind of nearly afraid to talk about what happened today, in one respect.”
McStay rejected any suggestion they might not have put everything into winning this showdown with Galway.
“No, we are competitive animals. In fairness we knew about this fixture for the last three months or whatever, so that was always in the plan. Today was a final on its own merits that we gave a lot of respect to.”
No celebrations then with the trophy?
“I’d lead it myself if I got a chance, but no, we can’t, just can’t. The optics would be wrong. The message would be all wrong. It would be mixed.
“Paddy (Durcan) did great in receiving the cup and framing where we want to go this week. We will see them all down in MacHale Park next Sunday when we will need every piece of energy we can get because that was a tough game of football out there.”
All the same a league title carries its own significance for Mayo.
“I think it’s important in terms of their development, they’ll take a lot of confidence from the manner of the victory,” said McStay.
“There were plenty of errors but we still showed the greater desire to win it, which is always nice.
“It’s just the psychology of putting a lot into a big match like today, which was added to by the fact of who our opponents were and then jumping straight back to a game where there will be a lot of expectation.
“But I’m really looking forward to that challenge now, of our team playing with added expectation now that we’ve won the national league.”
For goalkeeper Colm Reape it was a standout occasion. Four impressive saves to stop Galway players finding the net and three points cooly despatched from placed balls. A straightforward man-of-the-match choice.
“He was great. I am so pleased for him. He has come a long way in the last six months. A great credit to his coach and to the other two keepers, Rob and Rory for keeping him honest.
“There is great competitiveness in the goalkeeping club. He was really good, and not just his goalkeeping. His housekeeping around the square was really, really good.
“And he hit three big frees, so that is a fair day’s work. He got man of the match I heard, so great, I am delighted for him.”
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