Kevin McStay is encouraged by the development of Mayo's next generation as the set-up turn to the future in the wake of Lee Keegan's retirement from inter-county duty.
Former Footballer of the Year Keegan brought the curtain down on a stellar career last week and will not be part of McStay's plans for 2023 and beyond.
The Mayo manager had shared warm words about Keegan after his retirement announcement and reiterated those sentiments when he spoke to RTÉ Sport after watching his side beat Galway on Saturday to reach the FBD Connacht Cup final.
McStay, who is embarking on his first year in charge of his native county, said the focus will now be on unearthing successors to Keegan.
"The nature of it is that it's a story, a tough story for us for a day or two and the nature of this game is that it all moves on," he said.
"I said in my statement and I'm paraphrasing it, he was a great player and an even better fella. We'd have loved to have him but the body could give us no more and I totally respect that and we wish him nothing but good luck. We said that in our words about him.
"He's a marvellous lad. We'll move on and tonight was about finding the next fella and hopefully we're a bit down the track on that."
Mayo will face Galway again in their opening Allianz Football League fixture on Saturday, 28 January in Castlebar and McStay said he was happy with how emerging talents had acquitted themselves during the FBD Connacht Cup games thus far.
"We've only a week now to it and we have to trawl through. In fairness if we're going to decide panels and matchday 26s, we have to give people starts," he said.
"We have to look at them, we have to give them good decent minutes and to see what they're up to and in fairness they've been really good.
"They have come out with a great attitude and whatever they have, they're giving it to us and we're very happy with their progress, very satisfied that their attitude is really top notch and they're moving in the right direction.
"It's going to be difficult for us (to pick a 26) when we sit down, I've no doubt about that."
On the injury front, he added Tommy Conroy is "really close" to a return, with the Galway game not viewed as the most "appropriate" juncture to pitch the forward straight back into action.
"He's taking part in our scrimmage games, he's taking part in our conditioning," he said.
"He's in a good place and you'll see Tommy Conroy very soon."
While the campaign remains in pre-season mode officially, McStay said the identity of Saturday's opposition, who rallied from a sizeable deficit in the closing stages at the NUIG Connacht GAA Air Dome, proved an invaluable experience for his Mayo team.
"It's a competitive game against our old rivals Galway so we're going to be fighting over a tuppence. That's just the nature of the rivalry," he said.
"We got ourselves into a nice position, it got away from us a little bit in the end. (I'm) very happy to get another game out of this excellent league in the Dome.
"It's an attractive occasion for us next weekend now in the provincial league final."
