It was a disappointing night for the Mayo u20s on Wednesday when Sligo came from behind to pip them at the end to claim the Connacht u20 title on their home patch.
For Mayo manager Maurice Sheridan, he was proud of the way the side performed, but while against Galway and Leitrim in the previous rounds they were able to survive a late fade-out in the game, this time the weren't.
Speaking afterwards, Sheridan said: "You have to compliment the lads the way they played; although we lost the game, we controlled the second half by and large. We fell asleep against Galway in the last eight minutes, we fell asleep against Leitrim in the last eight minutes and it was the same again today and the goals were a bit lucky they got at the end.
"It is hard to pinpoint at the moment, but I thought we played extremely well at times in the second half, played well at the latter end of the first half as well. We just have to give the credit to Sligo, it is their evening, there is a lot of emotion here and they deserve it.
"They are a quality team, we got a lot of the match-ups right I thought in their forwards, the number 15 played puck early on when he got two goals. But we improved as the game went on, but they just kept on it, they brought on a big guy at the edge of the square at the end of game and it worked for them, you have to give them credit."
While the adventure ends for this team at this level, there is a bright future in store for them in the county jersey, Sheridan believes: "They are a super bunch, a very honest bunch and all we ask is that they continue to show the honesty and application that they did and have done all year, it is a credit to them and their parents. I hope for them they have a bright future in the county jersey."
