It's do or die from now on in for Mayo. That was always going to be the case no matter what happened last weekend against Cork, but from being six points up and looking like they had two feet in the All Ireland quarter-finals proper after topping their group - they ended up in losing by three points and finishing in third place and now have to hit the road this Sunday, rather than having a week's break.
The road is one well travelled by Mayo, with the Gods deciding that it would be Galway that Mayo would face when the draw for this weekend's games was made on Monday morning. Both Mayo and Galway have to pick themselves up after losses last weekend that jettisoned them into this round of the competition, while Galway will be disappointed after their loss to Armagh, for Mayo there are deeper questions to answer after their collapse against Cork down the home straight.
When Tommy Conroy lashed the ball to the back of Michael A Martin's net with less than 15 minutes to go, all looked rosy and right as Mayo seemed to have put a stuttering first half performance behind them to drive on towards victory - but it was only the start of the drama. Cork hit 1-6 without reply from there on into the final whistle, with Mayo at sixes and sevens all over the park.
Only three of Mayo's starting 15 managed to get on the scoreboard, with Jordan Flynn's four points from play the high watermark, the Crossmolina man looked to have been working his way towards a man of the match performance until his side's late collapse. Ryan O'Donoghue hit five points, but just one of them came from play, while Mayo's other starter to register a score was goalkeeper Colm Reape from a placed ball. Tommy Conroy got 1-1 after his introduction at the half-time break - but Mayo will need far more return from right across the team if they are to get out of Salthill on Sunday with a victory.
One man who wasn't involved last Sunday, but could feature this weekend after hitting 2-6 for his club last weekend is Cillian O'Connor. When asked about the Ballintubber man's non selection by Mayo, McStay explained his management teams thinking on it saying: "He was one hundred per cent medically fine to play Sunday, there was no issue whatsoever. We made a judgement call as management, one which will benefit Cillian and us very soon, he is completely fine. We didn't feel that he was sharp enough or polished enough to play at this level, but he had a really good showing last night scoring 2-6. We've been talking to him, he's in great form and he'll be in the mix with everyone else fighting and trying to make next week's squad."
McStay wasn't making any excuses after the game for what happened, but was trying to remain positive saying: “I'm disappointed. We were very aware that we went in as number one seeds, but could come out as number two of three depending on the way the ball bounced and we've got a tough one now.
"We were going down on the bus in great position obviously, but very aware of the danger and I mean that sincerely. I said it to anyone who would listen, these are no simple games. The old idea of what division you are in, and we draw a line that's over.
"We knew it was dangerous, but I would argue that we got into a great position around the third quarter when we got six up, but then we didn't mange it and we gave it away fairly quickly, I think that was the turning point."
He added: "We’ve no complaints, we got ourselves into a great position and we let it slip. We have to grin and bear it now. We’re still in the championship, it’s a disappointed dressing-room because we were in control of our situation this morning, we have less control over it now, but we’re still in it."
After Conroy's goal, Cork got awarded a penalty almost straight afterwards which was converted by Stephen Sherlock and once that ball hit the back of the net, Mayo failed to regain their composure. Asked after the game why he felt that had happened, McStay said: "I'm going to have a good think about that one because we dried up. It was a big play, it shouldn't have been the decisive play, but it looks that way and we fell away from it.
"Cork took a really big buzz out of it especially as it was just a minute or two after we had scored our goal, it looked like we had the gap established and we were going to light it up a bit, instead they came and we never got a chance to mange the six point lead."
The Ballina native went on to say there was no time for feeling sorry for themselves in the dressing room as they still have plenty to play for coming up: "We cannot feel sorry for ourselves, we just have to put the head down and crack on. We're not out of the championship and that's what I'll be saying to the boys now in a few minutes. It's not where we wanted to be, but let's see now what we are made of."
Mayo have a good record in Pearse Stadium of late, winning three of their last four outings in the Salthill venue, and it's all the way back in 1998 since Galway eliminated Mayo from the championship, en route to claiming that year' All Ireland title, something that Mayo supporters don't want to see happen again this year.
