Kevin McStay has ‘no issue’ with late calls in Connacht final defeat, insisting ‘David Gough is the best referee in the country’

Mayo had a two point lead in the 69th minute in Salthill but were beaten by a late surge from Galway.

Contained within that were two moments that could have spun either way, the most notable being the final free of the game awarded against Conor Loftus who went down under a questionable double tackle from Matthew Tierney and Paul Conroy.

“Frees at the end…frees at the beginning are worth a point as well,” a sanguine McStay pointed out.

“We zone in on the last few minutes but David Gough is the best referee in the country by a mile.

“There was two teams out there driving into one another, it was really hard physical stuff. Very .difficult match to referee because both teams just so badly wanted to win the cup.

“We have no issues. He has reffed us many times in the past; good days and bad days. It was a difficult game to ref. I wouldn’t like to have refereed it. We got a bounce at certain times in the match. Then a few went against us.”

Asked what his primary regret from the afternoon was, McStay explained: “We were patchy. We never got a flow. We never got to where we were comfortable in the game.

“We were good for ten minutes and then let them back into it. That would be our biggest disappointment because we really wanted to give an even performance and we had a strong bench to come in and give us a lift.”

Mayo captain Paddy Durcan missed out on the game with what McStay explained was a calf injury, although the Mayo manager was optimistic about a quick recovery.

His team now face into an All-Ireland round robin group containing Roscommon, Cavan and next Sunday’s Leinster final winners.

“He was very unlucky. We thought he would make it but he just failed a fitness test on Thursday. He has a bang on his calf. I think we probably could have played him for a while.

“But why would we risk him and then lose him for two or three games?”