Kevin McStay annoyed by 'nonsense' talk about Mayo approach

Mayo manager Kevin McStay hit back at the notion his side would sacrifice today's All-Ireland SFC game with Dublin as he affirmed his belief the county can have a big say in the latter stages of the competition.

McStay’s side were seconds away from sealing a place in the quarter-final after a sterling performance in Dr Hyde Park.

Cormac Costello’s late point meant a preliminary match awaits the Connacht side next week.

Having struggled with the hectic schedule last year, it was suggested Mayo could put focus on next week’s game at the expense of the game with Dublin.

McStay described the notion as "nonsense" in the aftermath of a pulsating second half in particular.

He said: "It doesn't feel like a defeat, and at the same time, we have no interest in moral victories either. We got ourselves into a great position. I hope people realise now we were trying to win the game.

"The nonsense, the people were waffling about, about saving yourself for next week. We gave it our best shot, but look, Dublin are a terrific team. It was very hard to see how they'd come back from that, but if the one team can do, they did it.

"Look, we'll chew over that in the next 48 hours, but what I want to put on record is just how proud I am of our team. We asked for a big effort to represent the county well today in a significant fixture, kind of the marquee fixture of the weekend, and I really felt we did that.

"We went so deep into the well and almost pulled it off, and we executed really well under pressure and just got clipped at the end."

McStay cut an angry figure in the heat of the moment at the full-time whistle but he denied there was annoyance at his team’s actions in those closing seconds.

"No, absolutely not. You're top of the mountain, you