Horan admits his players 'made an awful lot of mistakes' in Cavan win

MAYO manager James Horan has given a brutally honest assessment of his team's performance in the Allianz National League win over Cavan in Castlebar last night.

Speaking to RTÈ Sport, he conceded his charges made 'an awful lot of mistakes' - but kept working hard to ensure a third consecutive win and the county's best start to the campaign in 13 years.

He said: "We were a yard off everything in the first half, a yard off with our tackling and runs.

"Cavan had a lot of runners from defence. They caught us out a good bit.

"We got to grips with it a little bit with Evan Regan's goal.

"In the second half we had a lot of possession but made an awful lot mistakes.

"But we kept working hard in trying to do the right thing. 

"There was a 15-minute spell in the second half when we kept giving away the ball.

"We did a lot of good things and a lot of daft things that we need to work on."

Many Mayo supporters will view it as a positive sign at this stage of the season that the side can play poorly at times and still grind out a winning result.

Much more will be learned about the side when it meets Dublin in the next outing at Croke Park on Saturday week.