DEVASTATED MAYO CAPTAIN Andy Moran last night revealed that they will seek to take inspiration from tennis player Andy Murray in trying to bounce back from yesterday’s All-Ireland find loss.
Mayo’s defeat to Dublin saw their efforts to land Sam Maguire fall short at the final stage for the second successive year.
The county’s wait for a first All-Ireland senior football crown since 1951 goes on but 2013 Wimbledon winner Murray was referenced by Moran when asked about their attempts to bounce back.
“To be honest, we’re devastated. There were tears there. But, you know, we’re in a situation now where the Andy Murray phrase comes out.
“He was very close to it for a long time but he got over the line in the end. We’re going to keep fighting and we definitely will be back.
“We’ve a very good team. The only problem is that Donegal were a very good team last year and played a bit better on the day and Dublin are a very good team and played a bit better on the day too.
“You saw Ger Brennan kicking the ball over with his right foot from 40 yards. Sometimes it’s just your day.”
A distraught Lee Keegan after the game.
Pic: INPHO/Lorraine O’Sullivan
Joe McQuillan
Moran described the decision of referee Joe McQuillan to not play more time after Cillian O’Connor’s last free as ‘a pain in the arse’.
“We had chances at the end. Cillian had a free and the ref tells him that there’s 30 seconds left and then he blows it from the kick-out.
“That’s a bit of a pain in the arse to be honest, but, hey, listen, these things happen. Cillian is a very intelligent guy and a very intelligent footballer.
“Ye know that yourselves. He asked the ref how long was left and he said 30 seconds. But then he blew it up.
“It’s a one out of ten chance anyway, but it’s a chance to get a goal and have a chance of winning an All-Ireland.”
Moran admitted it was an error-strewn game.
“I think that’s a fair point. I think there’s was very high too, but probably that little bit lower than ours. And in a one point game that’s what makes the difference after 74 minutes of football.
“Probably there were a lot of mistakes in the game. Dublin hit the ball a lot into the goalies hands in the first half and we seemed to kick a lot of wides in the first half when we should have made a bit more hay.”
