'It's a great way to win the title, playing as poorly as we did'

MATCH REACTION: FAMILY AND friends gathered on the wall outside the Mayo and Sligo dressingrooms as word travelled about an almighty shock on the cards up in Mullingar. Westmeath were pulling away from Kerry! In Hyde Park, there was little novelty about the day.

Andy Moran made his speech, the crowd drifted away, the Mayo players trooped into the changingroom looking mildly pleased and James Horan didn’t blink as he faced the inevitable questions about a tumultuous few days. Conor Mortimer’s sudden decision to quit the panel might have been an issue if Mayo had somehow lost this final. But Horan felt certain that the upheaval during the week did not affect the players.

“I don’t agree it was [hard] for the players. I had a tough week but I’ve never seen the players happier during the week. We had an excellent training session Tuesday and Friday and there was great banter today coming up,” said Horan.

“I think we had a competitive game today and we were a bit nervous naturally as you would be. We made a few mistakes that compounded how nervous we were but I don’t think the Conor Mortimer thing affected the players whatsoever.”

From Horan’s perspective, the matter is closed and he chose his words carefully when asked for his thoughts about the statement issued by the player’s family on Thursday night.

“It [the statement] is not worth responding to. There’s a lot of people in Mayo know what the actual facts are and that statement is just . . . it doesn’t warrant a response.”

A second consecutive Connacht title for Horan speaks for itself. The match, he admitted, was far from a classic but through the general untidiness, he saw a resolve and a general calmness in his team that pleased him.

“It was a dog fight and a horrible match to watch on the sideline but we showed a lot of fighting character and showed what a strong team we are, with the subs that came on, they made a huge difference to us and probably swung the game.

“We got there and back to back Connacht titles so we are happy with where we are and are looking forward. Towards the end of the game when it was tight you saw our two wing backs scoring, you saw our guys driving forward we wanted to go and win the game, and you saw what a team effort it was and how much together they were .

“I’m delighted. I think it’s a great way to win the Connacht title playing as poorly as we did and getting through it. If we had taken our scores if the first half off some of the ones we created it would have been a completely different game.”

For Kevin Walsh, it was the same old story. Two years ago, they were bamboozled by Roscommon in a Connacht final having done the hard work.

Here, they just hadn’t quite enough juice to live with Mayo. Sligo have enjoyed a good provincial campaign but need a big match in the qualifiers now if they are to take their season somewhere special.

“They have a decision now: do they drop the heads because they lost this game or do you try and get into a quarter-final in Croke Park. That would be a great thing for Sligo if we could achieve that,” said Walsh.“Maybe the experience of two years ago will kick in.”