KEVIN McSTAY insists they got the wrong man after Fergal Boland saw red against Roscommon last night.
Mayo guaranteed their progress to the All-Ireland knockout stages after a frantic finish against their neighbours.
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Ryan O’Donoghue and Conor Cox netted from the spot at Dr Hyde Park either side of a Donnacha McHugh goal — before Boland got his marching orders for an apparent elbow off the ball.
Sideline official Maggie Farrelly flagged the incident with referee Barry Cassidy.
And it means Boland will miss Mayo’s crunch final-round clash with Dublin in a fortnight’s time.
McStay insists Boland is innocent and says they will protest his dismissal after beating Roscommon for the second time this summer.
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The win guaranteed Mayo an All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final spot.
The clash with Dublin will be a shootout for top spot.
But McStay is fed up of playing Cluedo with the officials despite sitting pretty on four points. He said: “The person that called it is pretty sure they saw it, even though we are pretty sure at the least it’s mistaken identity. How do you see something that’s mistaken identity?
“We are pretty sure it wasn’t Fergal Boland. I have known Fergal Boland for many years. If he hit that, I know nothing about human nature.
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“But I would be very surprised if Fergal was involved in any of that. We are all under these pressures and they make these calls as best they can.
“There were a few of those moments in the match . . . a sideline ball in the first half on my side was well in and ends up in a Roscommon point.
“These are big moments, there was a shot in the second half that was about four yards wide, and the umpire doesn’t know what he’s doing and looks over at the other umpire. A few of those we didn’t get today and it’s a little big disappointing on that front, but we’re through and you are not going to hear me complain.
“These are small things that happen, we want the bounce obviously but the Rossies want the bounce as well, so we have to live with what the ref does.”
Eoghan McLaughlin starred for the visitors with 0-3 from play.
The Westport man tortured the hosts from start to finish. Ryan O’Donoghue lit up the Mayo attack with 1-4.
And his penalty put them in the driving seat before McHugh palmed home their second after O’Donoghue’s fist pass found him unmarked at the back post.
But the Rossies refused to die as Cox netted from the spot at the other end before Boland’s red — and the hosts chased a goal that never came.
Roscommon’s second defeat means they must beat Cavan in the final round to save their summer.
They had seven different scorers in the opening 35 minutes alone — a massive improvement on three against Dublin the week before. Enda Smith starred for the hosts as McHugh’s efforts to man-mark him were mainly in vain.
The Boyle man was everywhere — blocking Jordan Flynn’s goalward shot on 12 minutes before a superb tackle on O’Donoghue as the Belmullet man took off towards the posts.
COMMON GOOD
The Rossies malfunctioned from their kickouts early on as Mayo won all three and Darren McHale and Matthew Ruane obliged with points.
But Davy Burke’s men quickly settled as Diarmuid Murtagh, Cox and Robbie Dolan sent them 0-4 to 0-2 ahead.
Niall Higgins was just about surviving his battle with Aidan O’Shea as the Breaffy giant proved a vital creative outlet and set up McLaughlin and O’Donoghue for well-taken scores.
But on-song McLaughlin quickly got his second off another run from deep after Enda Smith left McHugh for dead and boomed over.
The Rossies threw everyone behind the ball when they did not have it and invited Mayo to shoot. The visitors fired eight wides in the half and should have been in front at the break. O’Donoghue and Cox swapped scores at the end of the half before McHale wasted a glorious goal chance on the whistle.
Jack Carney broke the line in a slick move to feed McHugh, who squared it to the Knockmore man but his shot hit the side-netting and they went in locked at 0-8 apiece.
The second half went off the boil as the Rossies held firm in their defensive wall — but the visitors responded any time the hosts scored.
Cilian O’Connor sent a boomer over the bar and McHale followed suit. Cox dropped one short against the breeze before O’Donoghue made no mistake at the other end to make it 0-11 to 0-9.
Conor Carroll denied Ruane with a good save and Colm Reape stopped Murtagh’s effort after a fine Rossie move before a final ten minutes of madness closed it out.
O’Donoghue scored from the spot when he was fouled by Eoin McCormack to put Mayo in command. Roscommon protests for too many steps fell on deaf ears.
Cox and Keith Doyle brought it back to three but O’Donoghue squared to McHugh with a minute to go for Mayo’s second goal. They looked home and hosed with a 2-13 to 0-13 lead but failed to kill the game off as Enda Smith lofted a high ball towards goal.
Sam Callinan fouled Dylan Ruane for a penalty when it landed but Smith hobbled off with a serious looking ankle problem and Cox fired home.
Daire Cregg’s effort came off Ruane’s leg as the hosts cried foot block and their shouts for a penalty were ignored.
Then Mayo went down to 14 men when Boland was dismissed for a strike off the ball, a decision that baffled McStay.
Donie Smith and Ultan Harney pointed late on when they probably should have gone for the jugular, leaving the Rossies’ summer hanging by a thread.
ROSCOMMON: C Carroll 0-1 45; D Murray, B Stack, N Higgins; N Daly, R Dolan 0-1, E McCormack; E Smith 0-1, T O’Rourke; C Hand, D Smith 0-2, C Lennon 0-1; C Cox 1-4, 3f, 1m, 1pen, D Cregg 0-1, D Murtagh 0-2f. Subs: K Doyle 0-1 for Hand h-t; D Ruane for Lennon 44mins, U Harney 0-1 for O’Rourke 53, R Fallon for N Daly 54, S Cunnane for Dolan 64.
MAYO: C Reape; P O’Hora, J Coyne, D McBrien; S Coen, S Callinan, E McLaughlin 0-3; J Carney, M Ruane 0-1; D McHale 0-2, R O’Donoghue 1-4, 2f, 1pen, D McHugh 1-0; J Flynn 0-2; A O’Shea, C O’Connor 0-1. Subs: C Loftus for McBrien h-t; T Conroy 0-1 for O’Connor 53 mins, F Boland for O’Shea 61, E Hession for McHale 69, B Tuohy for McLaughlin 73.
REFEREE: B Cassidy (Derry).
