From Kevin Kelly at Croke Park
As the Tyrone players boarded the bus outside the changing rooms under the Cusack Stand after losing to Mayo on Saturday afternoon, the disappointment was there for all to see.
They know themselves that they failed to do themselves justice on the big day as they experienced defeat for the first time in 18 outings in 2016.
Unlike in the Ulster final victory over Donegal, when they landed three outstanding points to take the silverware, their late efforts sailed the wrong side of the post this time and defender Aidan McCrory felt that the wee bit of luck they required wasn’t there.
“Any day you play in a game of this level, you are going to need that bit of luck,” said the Errigal Ciaran man.
“We had it in the Ulster final but in games gone by we haven’t had it and it wasn’t on our side today. We tried our best but we just couldn’t get into any rhythm.
“You have to give Mayo credit for that. They just stifled our attack. We just couldn’t get showing our attacking quality out there at all. They had their homework done and they managed to restrict that.”
For the first time in six years, Mayo travelled to Croke Park not as Connacht champions, and McCrory feels that losing their provincial crown done them no harm, as they’ve rebuilt in the Qualifiers, as was the case with Tyrone in 2013 and 2015.
“Credit to Mayo, they have bounced back well after that defeat to Galway,” he said.
“They have rebuilt well though the back door, even if they haven’t set the world alight. We are well aware of that having come through like that as well ourselves in the past.
“They are a top quality team and they are always going to have periods of dominance. It was always going to be tough for us to sustain any long period of control over them.
“At this level you just have to try and make the best of whatever chances you get.
“It was a very warm day and it probably meant both teams were maybe not as fluid as they would like to be. But I don’t think fitness was any issue with either team, so that wouldn’t be an excuse.”
While Tyrone ended the season having won the Dr McKenna Cup, the NFL Division Two title and the Ulster Championship, they have missed out on the big one, yet McCrory hopes that everybody will remain on board next season especially captain Sean Cavanagh.
“We set out at the start of the season with a few targets in mind and we have achieved some of them,” said McCrory.
“The Ulster Championship was definitely one of them and we got that. But we also set out to try and win the All-Ireland as Ulster champions and we didn’t quite make it.
“Days like this aren’t the time for making any big decisions. Sean has been about a long time but he is still a very important player for us. I think whenever he decides to go it will be treated with a lot of regret in the rest of the county. So I hopes he plays on.”
