Mayo boss bemoans poor shooting once again
JOINT Mayo manager Pat Holmes did not put a tooth in it when asked to express his annoyance after his charges let a place in the semi-finals of the Allianz National Football League slip out of their hands in injury time against Donegal at Elverys MacHale Park on Sunday, the Ulster side a place in the last four against Cork instead.
He stated: “Annoyed is probably not the word. As a group you go into it together. We worked hard with a view to putting in a performance for 72 or 73 minutes. When the final whistle went we were level and it’s just unfortunate that we couldn’t take more of our scores.
'It’s June 14 when we play competitively again so there’s a lot of time between now and then. Between injuries, form and various other things, players getting fitter, we’d have a fair idea of the majority of the team but there are still a lot of places obviously up for grabs.”
Mayo were the victims of their own downfall, registering nine wides during a second half which they dominated from start to finish.
However, Holmes described it as ‘a good exercise’. He elaborated: “We came into the league with a view to looking at players and obviously trying to win every game at the same time. It served its purpose from that point of view. I’m not sure exactly how many players we used in the league, but it was around 30 anyway. We’re happy from that point of view. A lot of the younger players in particular got game time in. That was the purpose of it.
“I think we had eight or nine wides in the second half. Over the course of an hour and 10 minutes, you can’t afford to have 12 or 13 wides and drop one into the 'keeper’s hands as well. So they’re things we need to work on, but I think there were a lot of positives about the performance.”
One of the highlights of the match was the scintillating display by midfielder Barry Moran, who scored three points and set up a number of others as he set down a marker for the Connaught SFC.
'He did very very well, but we know Barry is a good footballer, the same as Seamus O’Shea, who had been out for three weeks but came back in today when Tom Parsons couldn’t start. He did very well as well.
'Right throughout the pitch there were some great performances. It’s just unfortunate that we probably weren’t as sharp as we should have been on our shooting, but that’s something we’ll have to work on,” Holmes added.