Last December when he finally got the job, this is where Stephen Rochford wanted to be with Mayo preparing for a crack at the All Ireland title on the third Sunday in September. While Sundy’s semi-final win over Tipperary isn’t one that might be spoken about in revered tones over the long winter nights ahead, it’s another step towards a much bigger goal and if Mayo achieve that on September 18, that’s all that matter.
Speaking after the game, Rochford was asked was this a case of job done and moving on, “The group is quite ambitious and so is the management, when we set up last December around what we wanted to achieve this year it was about getting to an All-Ireland final.”
As for how they got there, that doesn’t matter any more, it’s all about making sure they are ready for whats coming up next and they improve on what they have done in the past six games over the coming few weeks he added. “It was about not necessarily taking the long route to get there but All-Ireland semi-finals are there to be won. We all have enough experience of playing epic finals and one thing or another so we are just content with getting to the final at this moment. We just have to be more consistent, better in front of goal with some of the opportunities that we created.”
The Crossmolina native was pleased with the scoring surge that set up Mayo’s win, but he knows it will have to be done again for a much longer period against either Dublin or Kerry next month adding that “That quarter at the end of the first half when we scored 1-7 to 0-1 from them and showed a ruthlessness we want in the group.” While speaking about the number of chances they missed today he said, “It was poor execution. We still got 15 scores there today and our own levels of standards would dictate that we want more and we know that there is more within us to get that.”
