'Whether you're up or down people will find fault'

ALL-IRELAND SFC QUARTER-FINAL:IN THIS sort of situation, Conor Counihan's default mode is a sort of resigned testiness. He wouldn't want you to think he was getting ratty but at the same time he wouldn't want to leave you with the impression that he appreciated your question.

He’ll be more fire blanket than fire hose, smothering your inquiry rather than blasting it to pieces. But don’t imagine he accepts your premise.

“You’re missing the factor in terms of the drive Mayo showed,” he replied when asked did he put the defeat down to fatigue or complacency. “Don’t take from that performance at all because they drove on and they drove at us. There were other days when people drove at us and we were able to sustain it. We weren’t able to sustain it today, to be fair to them.

“Whether you’re up or down people will find fault with you. From where I stand, if a group of people give you a significant effort over a long period of time the day they are down isn’t the day to be kicking them. That’s for others to do but I won’t be doing any of that. I’m certainly very proud of them.”

A little gentle pushing and prodding about talk of retirements – players and, ahem, management – got the expected straight bat. The game didn’t go their way, he reckoned, because Mayo were the better team over 70 minutes.

Simple as that.

“I think today’s about Mayo now and it isn’t about us making excuses for out defeat. Well done to them, I wouldn’t take anything from them.

“They did seem to have an extra bounce of energy and that type of thing. But some of that is to be expected you know? Challengers versus champions. You have to factor it in. Maybe you guys (the media) didn’t make my job any easier.

“I’m not making any excuses in terms of our preparation and our performance.

“But if you kick them and they’re down often enough, some day they’re going to jump up and bite you. There’s a lot of pride in those lads and I say fair play to them.

“Obviously, I have to give Mayo credit. They came into the game and dominated us and we just didn’t seem to get a grip on it. At half-time we tried to regroup but the scores didn’t come. We didn’t get enough ball up to the forwards and when we did, we lacked a bit of composure.”