Kevin McStay delight as new-look Mayo draw on old qualities

Mayo manager Kevin McStay says the Allianz League draw with Galway will give him and his management team much to mull over, but praised the efforts of his team to pull a draw out of the fire in Castlebar last night.

Nearly 14,000 fans passed through the turnstiles at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, with the vast majority braced to head home disappointed as Galway held a slender one-point lead deep into injury time.

Mayo, who had spurned a couple of earlier chances, profited from a loose ball out of defence with Ryan O'Donoghue landing a booming effort in testing conditions to deny the Tribesmen at the death.

McStay, who decided to swap his punditry role to realise his dream of being in the Mayo hotseat, believes the nature of the result will stand his team in good stead when they travel to the Athletic Grounds in Armagh next Sunday.

"We’re delighted with the point, it sets us up nicely for next week," he told RTÉ Sport. "Great battling qualities from our boys we feel.

"It’s a good result, a point on the board."

Another James Carr special of a goal was an early lift for the home side, but Galway responded well with a goal of their own and were full value for the two-point interval lead.

Asked about the half-time team talk, McStay said: "The key message was a little bit more energy, a little more penetration and shot selection. Just to tidy it up a little.

"We’ve lots of good footballers in this group and we’ll get better as the weeks go by. There’s lots to pick up on obviously, but I’m going to take the positives from it.

"We’re playing All-Ireland finalists and we gave a great account of ourselves."

'We're delighted with the point, it sets us up nicely for next week’ - Mayo manager Kevin McStay reflects on snatching a draw with