Mayo minor manger Enda Gilvarry was a very happy man in the immediate aftermath of his sides 3-13 to 0-9 win over Armagh in Croke Park on Sunday.
Gilvarry who guided Mayo to the Tom Markham cup in his maiden year in charge of the team last year, said after the game that it was "very satisfying after a slow start, I thought we dominated the first half and maybe left a few scores behind. There's always something to work on and in the second half I think maybe we improved our conversion rate when we got the chances and that was the difference." When asked what was the difference in his sides display in the early stages of the second half when Mayo killed off the Armagh challenge with two quick goals, compared to the first half. "In the first half we had a spell like that where we didn't convert the chances, in the second half for no apparent reason except for that the guys scored, it gave an extra bit of confidence and calmness."
When asked about the positives from his teams performance, Gilvarry was full of praise, but also knew that bigger challenges lie ahead and their performances will have to keep improving. "The scoreline, the work-rate, the amount of chances we created. The negative would be that we didn't convert all the chances and that we slept a little bit and coasted in the last ten minutes and we won't get that chance to coast in again" he said.
The work rate and preparation that his squad have put into getting this far is another area where Gilvarry was full of praise saying that "all we can do, all year we tried to concentrate on ourselves and improve ourselves, we've been working extremely hard, they were focused and they did it extremely well. I'd be very happy with them as a group." He went on to say that "one of the features of this years squad and down to the management is that everyone is working very hard. I keep using the phrase ' a great bunch of guys' they are challenging and challenging the management to work harder, it's an interesting place."
When asked might it be a concern for Mayo going into a semi-final after such an easy victory in this game, they could get caught a bit cold the next time out, Gilvarry was keen to stress that they had come through a number of tough battles to get where they are already this year. "That might be unfair to Galway and Roscommon and on today, going on the sore bodies and the demeanor of the Mayo team in the dressing room they are always tough games and you know, we'll have to look and see whoever comes through."
