John O'Mahony was non-committal yesterday about his future as manager of Galway's footballers following the defeat of the All-Ireland champions by Mayo in Tuam on Sunday. "As far as I am concerned I will have to think about the situation and discuss the matter with a number of people, including members of my family," said O'Mahony.

"The job is very demanding, but I have enjoyed the last two years and I will take that into account. I told the players after the match that it was up to them to regroup for next season.

"We will sit down and discuss the situation calmly and seriously. This is by no means the end for us," he said. "It may be that one or two of the players will opt out, but we have several young players on the way up and we have a fairly deep well of talented players who have won All-Ireland medals."

O'Mahony was in a philosophical mood about Sunday's defeat. It had been a long day's journey into night in Tuam and in Martin McNamara's (the Galway goalkeeper) pub in Corofin after the match.

"We played every ball again several times in the night, but in the end we had to concede that the better team won on the day," he said. What he wants now is for Mayo to beat Cork in the semi-final and go on to win the Sam Maguire Cup. "We made the breakthrough for Connacht for the first time since 1966 last year and it would be wonderful if Connacht teams were to win All-Ireland titles back-to-back. We never underestimated Mayo and we knew well that we would have to play at our peak to win.

"We felt that the two matches against Sligo had prepared us for the test, but Mayo were every bit as eager and they played the better football. We had a three-point advantage at half-time and got another point immediately after the break, but we needed a few more scores to put them away but they didn't come.

"This does not reflect in any way on our attack. It was that facet of our game which got us to this stage in the first place. It is very much a team game with us and we simply did not make the most of our opportunities, but that was down to Mayo's strength rather than any weakness in our side.

"They had run up a good score against the wind in the first half (1-6) and they performed really well in the second. We didn't play as well as they did against the wind," added O'Mahony.

"I was very impressed with Mayo and their approach. The fact that they could bring on two subs like Kieran McDonald and Pat Fallon, and that they both played so well, suggests that they have strength in depth. They were also warming up Liam McHale just before the end. When they can have three players of that calibre on the bench you have to have respect for them. Nobody is going to push them aside easily. It is going to be a great semi-final against Cork," he said.

"The Connacht revival would be copperfastened if Mayo were to go on to win the Sam Maguire. That would lift all boats in Connacht.

"Mayo will now need to be their own sternest critics. They are only starting and will not have achieved anything unless they can forge ahead. They have a good squad and their teamwork is great, so I see no reason why they cannot go ahead and win it."

Meanwhile, John Maughan and several of his Mayo team were celebrating their win over Galway at the races in Ballinrobe yesterday.

"We have taken today off," said Maughan yesterday, "we want to let it sink in. After that it is back to the hard grind in preparation for the match against Cork next month.

"I have played against Larry Tompkins in my time and I respect him as a fine player and a superb manager. He has achieved a lot in his time and we know well that he will leave nothing to chance. We know that it will not be easy, but we are every bit as determined as he is." Maughan was happy to report a clean bill of health for his entire squad after the match.

"The situation now is that we have Kieran McDonald, Pat Fallon and Liam McHale in good shape as we prepare for the semi-final. Noel Connelly (missing yesterday through injury) should be back too. It underlines the fact that we have a very strong panel of players.

"However, beating the All-Ireland champions in a Connacht final in Tuam is all very well, but there are tough days ahead and a lot of hard work. We want to play this achievement down as much as possible. We will watch the video of the Cork/Kerry match which we haven't seen yet and then we will set our minds to reaching the final against either the Ulster or Leinster champions. For the moment the only thing on our minds is the match against Cork.

"Our preparations will certainly be low-key and we expect the Mayo supporters to help us by not getting too excited. We want to keep the lid on this for as long as we can. It is great to be in an All-Ireland semi-final again, but it won't be all that great if we are beaten."