Galway had 'more leaders' than Mayo, Dublin legend tells The Sunday Game
Ciaran Whelan reminded Mayo of their major weakness after their forwards bottled it yet again.
The beaten Connacht finalists have made losing tight games a habit after blowing it against Galway yesterday on the back of tight losses to Galway and Derry in last year's Championship plus their failure to hold onto a lead against Dublin in last season's group stages.
And Dubs legend Whelan did not hold back in his criticism of Kevin McStay's team.
Read more: Colm Boyle column: Ref decision to deny Mayo a two-pointer was the wrong call - it cost us
Read more: Mayo v Galway score recap as the Tribesmen win their fourth Connacht title in a row
He said: 'They went level with 16 minutes to go. Their weakness was in their front six. There were not many leaders who could step up.
'Their Achilles heel has been that inability to finish the game off.
'The game was there for them but Galway to their credit showed brilliant resilience and just had more leaders on the pitch. It is as simple as that.'
Mayo boss Kevin McStay added: 'Our accuracy let us down once the pressure came on. We had some really good goal chances and you have got to take at least 50 per cent of them if not the majority of them.'
Former Mayo player Cora Staunton said: 'They had nine shots in the last 15 minutes and only got two scores. They will be really disappointed with that.'
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