THE secretary of the Mayo County GAA Board has hit out at the Irish Mail on Sunday over an article by controversial columnist Joe Brolly under the heading ‘Let’s ban Mayo from finals and send them on holidays instead’.

In it, the Derry-born pundit said a member of a county board had suggested to him the tabling of a motion for Congress next year seeking that in the event of Mayo senior footballers winning another All-Ireland semi-final, the losing semi-finalist  would instead advance to the final and Mayo rewarded with a team holiday.

“That way, Mayo would retain their dignity and the GAA would avoid the embarrassment of another anti-climactic final. It is perhaps a little harsh, but it sums up the widespread view that we have again been short-changed by Mayo on football’s biggest day,” Brolly explained.

Apart from his scathing criticism of a number of Mayo players, Brolly’s remarks about the team’s psychologist Kieran Shannon have caused offence.

Brolly wrote: “If Kieran Shannon, their highly regarded psychologist, stays with them much longer, he will need the services of a psychologist himself.”

Kevin O’Toole, secretary of the Mayo County GAA Board, said Brolly’s comments will be discussed at the next meeting of the board.

Mayo manager James Horan displays his utter disapointment as his charges lost to Donegal in Sunday's All-Ireland senior football championship final at Croke Park. Pc:- David Maher/SportsfileDonegal 2-11 Mayo 0-13 .....THE Croke Park Agreement was torn up by Donegal on Sunday. Maybe Mayo didn’t read the small script.

This time the bitter pill of defeat was not quite as hard to swallow, but bitter all the same. It will go down as another All-Ireland defeat for the Connaught champions, but this team has to be given credit for picking themselves off the ground having conceded two early goals to leave Donegal - deserving winners, it must be said - looking over their shoulders as the finishing line approached.

To concede two goals at this level, and so early in the game, would unnerve any team, but the Connaught champions held their nerve and their composure to fight their way back and contribute to one of the more memorable finals.

It was a battle really which had only one outcome from a long way out and given Donegal’s defensive strengths, Mayo did extremely well to fight their way back into the game.

But it was disappointing for the team and their army of supporters who had travelled on the wave of a new belief, a new vision under the new manager.

They have come a long way but it is only fair to suggest they have a bit to go before that gap, now extended to 62 years, will be bridged, but, if nothing else, they are edging closer.

Mayo had every reason to come out for the second half full of hope, trailing by just three at the break - 2-4 to 0-7 - but the gap was never to get any narrower.

There is one standout statistic from this game - Mayo were unable to score a goal and Donegal nailed two, the first a classic finish from Michael Murphy, who latched on to the long ball before turning Kevin Keane and firing to the net.

MOST times when a team suffers a four-point defeat there are few if any excuses. However, in Croke Park on Sunday this was not the case as the Mayo players and supporters will look back on their All-Ireland final with Donegal and know they could have won the game.

This is not taking away from the deserved Donegal victory. They took their opportunities well, especially their two goal chances, and stood stern against a magnificent Mayo fight back to hold on.

But to win big games a team needs that little bit of luck, be it a bounce of the ball, a lucky score or an incorrect decision by the match official. Mayo got none as lady luck deserted them while Donegal got all three.

I hate to start with the first 11 minutes of the game. By the end of this opening spell Mayo found themselves seven points down. The also had two players already with yellow cards, Jason Doherty and Lee Keegan (wonder had Joe Brolly’s comments during the week influenced the match official).

No one could have any complaint about Donegal’s opening goal before the third minute of the game had passed. It was brilliantly executed by their captain and full-forward Michael Murphy. Ironically, Murphy’s father is from Ballina.

Eight minutes later Mayo tasted their first bit of bad luck when the referee failed to give Cillian O’Connor a free down on the Donegal 14-yard line when he seemed to be fouled not once but twice. From the resulting Donegal clearance they went up field where Colm McFadden netted their second goal. Again fortune favoured the Ulster side as a shot for a point hit the post and was deflected into McFadden’s path by a Mayo defender. So, instead of it being 1-1 to 0-1, it was 2-1 to 0-0.

At this stage many teams would have folded but not Mayo. For next 60 minutes they were the better team and outscored their opponents by 13 points to 10. However, the goal they badly needed never arrived.

By half-time the scoreboard looked a lot healthier as far as Mayo were concerned as they had reduced the deficit to three points. The added bonus was that they would have the advantage of the wind in their backs for the second half.