In another lifetime John Evans would have made the model general, still rallying his troops after the battle has been lost.

Evans may be from Kerry but he fights on Roscommon’s side now, and carries the responsibility of that as he would his own flesh and blood.

So outside the grey dressing room of Dr Hyde Park he spoke not of disappointment or regret but only of the spirit and pride in his team, who came amazingly close to pulling off the first great upset of the football championship.

“Look, they are inside there, and they are devastated,” said Evans. “But I’ll tell you one thing fine and straight, I got them to stand up inside there. Because I’m hugely proud of what they did.

"We absolutely believed in the game plan we had coming in here. We believed that we could shake Mayo, and more than shake them. But they're a young team, and they made mistakes, and it was absolute inexperience that beat them out there. They had the game and had the chances. You can't put an old head on young shoulders. But how wonderful they were."

He added: “It was close enough, but I knew we’d need another couple of points.

“And, look, you are dealing with a Mayo team that’s four or five years in the making. I remember this Mayo team up against Kerry four years ago in Croke Park, playing in a semi-final, and they were making the same mistakes we were making here. But we’ve learned now, and will learn as well, and we’ll learn from those hard knocks. Because I can’t fault their attitude.

‘Young fellas’

“But the big thing I have about Roscommon football is that you can’t be hanging your coats on young fellas. You must build the foundation first, and bring them into it. Because they are talented young players. But there will come a time when Roscommon will have all those players and the experience underneath their belt. And that’ll be their time. Youth is going to come and we’re the coming team.”

If Evans was emotionally stirred by the performance of his team then Mayo manager James Horan sounded a little more relieved, although not without some emotion too. Having seen his team sit three points down with just over 10 minutes left to play there had to be some racing heartbeats.

Momentum

“Sure, they had the momentum then,” admitted Horan. “They had the crowd. They had the wind. They had everything with them. It could have been easy to lie down, but the character and resolve the guys showed out there was excellent. Because we weren’t playing well. And we knew that. We were making poor decisions.

“But we kept grinding away, got five points on the trot, to win the game. So from that point of view I’d be very happy and delighted to get out of here. I’d say we were a little bit lucky too, but some of the traits we showed are hugely encouraging.”

Not starting his captain Andy Moran can’t have been an easy decision, and it was Moran’s introduction which ultimately swung the game in Mayo’s favour. That, said Horan, is what a championship panel is all about. “You saw his response today, that’s the way it should be.”

No sign of former Connacht rugby player Gavin Duffy, who didn't make his expected club debut in Galway over the weekend either, although Horan still considers him a key part of his championship panel.

“Yeah, he’s involved with us and training very, very well. He wasn’t involved in the match-day panel today but there’s five weeks now [before the Connacht final] where there’s going to be a lot of fun and a lot of competition, so we’re just really excited about that.”