A FAMILIAR SINKING feeling on All-Ireland final day for James Horan, this latest loss compounded for the Mayo manager by a performance that dropped notably from the standards they had set earlier this summer.
Horan was forced to reflect on the Mayo faults which cost them as All-Ireland honours slipped away.
“I think we gave away a lot of turnovers in the first half that weren’t good decisions or good skills. But having said that we were still in the game, we were only two points down at half-time. The penalty was a big turning point as well, we could have gone one up, but overall we started to snatch at shots then. So, we just didn’t play like we could today.
“Just as a general we seemed to be a bit off today. The performance wasn’t what we can give, I suppose; that’s the disappointing thing. We started to snatch at things a little bit in the second half. Just lost our composure a little bit.”
Horan didn’t feel the four-week break since the semi-final was a disadvantage for their squad.
“The semi-final was such a hard game, we needed time to recover. Tyrone had the same team that came through the semi-final so they obviously had no injuries. Maybe from that point of view they had a bit of momentum but having said that, we started the game pretty well.
“Tyrone were very good today. They were very strong; they were strong in their kickouts and made great gains there. Tyrone were good and deserved their win for sure.”
Horan praised the progress of his players over the course of this season.
“They’re an amazing bunch. We’ve a full squad in there now and there’s a lot of really young guys that are serious dudes. Obviously it’s very, very disappointing.
“We’re very proud of the guys and the effort and commitment they put in this year, and the development and growth that we’ve made this year.
“The rate of development has been very exciting from some of the players. It has been very good, very quick. And there’s other players coming through. David McBrien and Mark Moran, a couple of guys coming back from injuries who are really exciting.
“So look, there’s a lot of really talented players out there who want to get better. There’s a lot of positives from this year, for sure.”
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