LAST UPDATE | 27 May 2019
JOE BROLLY HAS described Mayo’s surprise one-point Connacht SFC semi-final defeat to Roscommon as “the disaster of disasters”.
Mayo shipped two early goals en route to suffering their first championship defeat to Roscommon in Castlebar since 1986.
With James Horan’s unblemished record in Connacht over, his team head to the qualifiers for a fourth consecutive year.
Brolly didn’t hold back on The Sunday Game last night.
“The nation’s favourite tragic comedy unfolding again,” he said. “It is more enthralling watching Mayo losing, than watching any other team winning, including the Dubs.
“The sense of panic that seized Mayo after the two goals – and they were not able to show that composure. It became a kaleidoscope of disaster. The amount of unforced errors and that sense of panic.
“The sense of panic that seized Mayo after the two goals, which were awful goals, and then the fact that they were not able to show that sort of composure,” he continued.
“If that had been the Dubs for example, the Dubs would have said, ‘Hold on boys, Roscommon get an early goal, that’s it, you have had your fun, it’s over now.
"The nation's favourite tragic comedy unfolding again. It is more enthralling watching Mayo losing, than watching any other team winning, including the Dubs..." - Joe Brolly on Mayo's defeat to Roscommon pic.twitter.com/99L6ubF9G0
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) May 26, 2019
“But with Mayo it just became a kaleidoscope of disaster and the amount of unforced errors, the amount of kicking the ball into the keeper’s hands and that sense of panic.”
The former Derry forward then referenced the player-heave that saw joint-managers Noel Connelly and Pat Holmes ousted at the end of 2015.
“It’s interesting that since the coup in 2015 in the Breaffy club rooms, that Mayo have won three championship games in Connacht – against Sligo, New York and London and they really needed a run in Connacht this year.
“To win Connacht, to show they can control championship games because there is a world of difference between championship games, league games, early round qualifiers…and they needed to do that to establish authority.
“It was the disaster of disasters. Compelling as always but it was like watching a car crash.”
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