By John Harrington

Mayo manager Stephen Rochford admitted everyone in his camp was gutted after Sunday’s Connacht SFC Quarter-Final defeat to Galway.

His team died with their boots on, though, and he insisted they’ll dust themselves down and refocus again for the challenge of the All-Ireland Qualifiers.

“Extremely disappointed”, said Rochford. “We put a lot into that game. We expected to win with the effort that we put in and the focus and attitude of the group over the last couple of weeks.

“But we just weren’t good enough on the day. Put it down to six minutes injury time and they score a goal. Put it down to a couple of good scoring opportunities we didn’t execute.

“The sending off. In such a tight margin of a game you can look for multiple reasons but they will only be excuses this evening. We didn’t win and we now prepare for the month of June.”

Diarmuid O’Connor’s red-card after 28 minutes for a high elbow on Paul Conroy was certainly a pivotal moment in the game.

It left Mayo with uphill struggle to win the match from there, but Rochford was pleased with the spirit they continued to show in the face of adversity and believes it bodes well for the All-Ireland Qualifiers.

“Having to play a game against a top team for fifty minutes puts you in a difficult situation but it gives me great encouragement as regards the fight that’s still within the group.

“Even when Galway got the goal, we got it back to two points and had another opportunity.”

“For whatever reason, people will make out about legs...there are a lot of teams going out the same length  of time as those players but we will take it one game at a time and see what we can manage in the qualifiers.”

Mayo’s hopes of a long journey through the qualifiers won’t be helped by the serious knee injury suffered by Tom Parsons against Galway.

Rochford confirmed his midfielder had dislocated his knee, but wasn’t sure of the extent of the damage.