John Cleary lamented Cork’s wastefulness in their All-Ireland SFC quarter-final loss to Mayo.

A tally of 14 wides came back to haunt the Rebels after their 0-18 to 0-23 defeat at Croke Park on Saturday evening.

“We had plenty of the ball, but a low conversion rate on our shots,” the crestfallen Cork manager told reporters.

“We weren’t good in front of goal today. We didn’t get the scores. Mayo were much more efficient and they got the scores. That’s the reason they got over the line and we didn’t.

“We just scored 18 points which is not enough to win a quarter-final here on a fine evening. We’d be disappointed about that.”

Cleary was also disappointed that his side could only manage two two-pointers compared to Mayo’s five. 

“In fairness, Mayo pushed up and they tackled ferociously, for that alone and for their efficiency, they probably deserved to get over the line," he continued.

"But we would have a lot of regrets on what we left behind us scoring-wise. 18 points won’t get you over the line at this level. The two-pointer for Mayo before half-time was particularly hard. 

“We looked like we’d go in two points up and they got an orange flag to level. All those little things add up.” 

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