The storm clouds lingered overhead. Mid-May and Cavan had just beaten Mayo in Castlebar. Down our way, the mood was as you might expect. But as the fallout rumbled onwards around the county, it was up to us in the dressingroom to refocus the group to face Tyrone. That was all that mattered. And then it wasn’t.The following Saturday, just one week out from playing Tyrone in Omagh, I was out on the MacHale Park pitch ensuring everything was in place for our scheduled training session.Kevin McStay was still with the rest of the group as they finished their warm-up on the adjacent field, but as some of the players started to make their way to the main pitch, I could hear somebody calling out for the medical team.As I made my way towards the tunnel to see what the commotion was, I saw the physio and our S&C guy leading Kevin towards the medical room.Initially we thought it might have been something as simple as he hadn’t eaten breakfast and was feeling weak or light-headed. But when the boys got in touch with the team doctor, he arranged for Kevin to attend Mayo University Hospital in Castlebar.It’s peculiar how these things work out. We normally trained at 10 or 10.30 on Saturday mornings but plans were rejigged that day as some of us on the management team were travelling to Ballybofey afterwards to watch Donegal play Tyrone.So, rather than have the session early in the morning and then wait around for a few hours, we adjusted the schedule so we could go straight to Ballybofey after training.Kevin wasn’t due to travel and that is where the later timing of the session might have proved a blessing in disguise – because when he started to feel unwell it was in an environment where he was surrounded by medical personnel immediately.Our chief concern obviously was that Kevin was okay. But at the same time, as he was going to A&E, we had to try keep the training session on track and ensure the focus remained on addressing certain issues from the Cavan match.Our chief concern obviously was that Kevin was okay. Photograph: James Lawlor/Inpho Cavan fully deserved their victory but for us it was just a total underperformance. We had been so lethargic.We had beaten Cavan the previous summer by nine points. So the loss drained the belief from supporters. Few expected us to achieve anything in Omagh. The outlook around the county was gloomy – an unmistakable sense the Mayo senior footballers had run out of road in 2025. What do you do? Do you fold or do you roll up your sleeves and fight for your championship lives? We rolled up our sleeves.On the Friday night we had done a video session. We had been terrible in the middle third of the field, particularly on breaking ball. I remember that Saturday morning we worked a lot on breaking ball.Afterwards we found out the doctors weren’t entirely happy with Kevin’s condition and he was to stay in overnight.We continued with the plan and four of us headed for Ballybofey. We witnessed Tyrone ambushing Donegal. It was a statement win.It was pretty clear that combining what we had spoken about on the Friday night, what we had worked on at training on Saturday morning and what we had seen in Ballybofey, the big focus from a football perspective was going to be on the middle third.We later learned that Kevin was to be kept in hospital overnight and subsequently Sunday also. On my way to training that Monday, Kevin rang me to say he would be remaining in hospital for another night or two and he was out of contention for the weekend. He said he wanted me to manage the team.It was a very surreal sort of moment because in my head I’d sort of left the Mayo management position behind back in 2018.It was a very surreal sort of moment because in my head I’d sort of left the Mayo management position behind back in 2018.