By Cian O’Connell for gaa.ie
Mayo manager Stephen Rochford didn’t feel fatigue was a factor in the closing stages of a gripping All Ireland SFC Quarter-Final at Croke Park.
During a frenetic finish Mayo squandered a string of decent opportunities ensuring a replay will be required to determine who joins Kerry in next month’s Semi-Final.
It has been another action packed Championship adventure for Mayo, who played extra-time in Qualifier wins over Derry and Cork.
“We had three shots to win that game so I don’t think fatigue had anything to do with it,” Rochford stated. “It’s an easy answer to say it’s fatigue, we were still driving on in to that six minutes of injury time so guys are in good condition and they’ll be in good condition next week.”
Rochford was content with how the Green and Red responded following a shaky opening. “We got off to a poor start, conceded a very sot goal and went seven down.
“We took the game to Roscommon, scored 1-6 or so in the next period and restricted them to a point from a free for the remainder of the first half so we really controlled the game.
“We lost our way after half-time, they scored three points, struggled to get our runners coming onto the ball across their 65 and 45 and didn’t probably close out the game in the manner we would have liked.”
Early on Roscommon had caused Mayo plenty of bother also. “The reality is that you’re coming up against a good team as well – there’s no poor teams in the Championship at the end of July and August,” Rochford says.
“After we conceded the 2-2 we looked really solid defensively and we just didn’t click in the manner we hoped to and that’s a credit to Roscommon.”
By briangaa Mon 31st Jul
