“We’re very disappointed considering the effort the guys put in. It was a treacherous evening for a match but they gave some effort. Maybe if we displayed a small bit of cuteness there before half-time, we could easily have tagged on another score or two. They’re the small margins at this level but we just have to keep learning from that. The lads will learn so much from this evening but you’d have to say that we’d be extremely proud of the performance. Now we just have to drive on again for next weekend.
“It was as bad an evening that you could get for a match. It’s a pity really. Having said that, it was the card that was dealt. Mayo were really up against it with the way we played in the first half. It was going to turn around the other way and you saw that kick-outs weren’t going 30 yards. Frees were impossible to take. But there was nothing in that match, and for us conditions aren’t an excuse. We’re going to have to face those. So we’re delighted with the performance but it’s not the two points we wanted.
“It was just a very hard evening to strike frees. The small difference was that Mayo got those frees from the same positions. As I said, they’re just the fine margins.
“The way we played in the first ten minutes of the second half was probably the best either team played against the wind. We steadied the ship and we carried the ball quite well. Their goal was a sucker punch. It looked like he (Brian Reape) over-carried it at one stage. It’s a hard one to take but we have to take what we’ve learned on board for next weekend”.
