Mayo manager Kevin McStay insisted his team will head for Tyrone chasing victory in two weeks time after slipping to a disappointing home defeat against Cavan in their opening All-Ireland SFC Group 1 game.
Cavan deserved their 1-17 to 1-14 win at MacHale Park, boosting their hopes of reaching the knockout stages while ramping up the pressure on Mayo.
The Green and Red men must find a win in one of their remaining two games against Tyrone and Donegal, and though that looks a daunting task, McStay is staying upbeat.
"It's a tough group," he told RTÉ Sport. "There's four very good teams in it. We were always going to have to go to Tyrone anyway and get stuck into that match no matter what happened here today.
"There's just a bit more edge to it now because we haven't picked up any points, but we'll be chasing two points in Omagh."
On the loss to Cavan, McStay offered a measured assessment.
"It was a difficult game, kind of a stop-start nature to it," he added. "We just couldn't get any rhythm or momentum into it, but ultimately there was only a score between us in the end. We kept at it, but full credit to Cavan. On the day they were definitely the better team.
"Their shooting really started hitting all the spots, their conversion rate was off the charts. So it seemed to me anyway, every shot they took seemed to go over the bar. Our lads stayed at it in all fairness.
"We generated a few goal chances - it just didn't happen for us. I have to say right down the stretch we never walked away from the game, but we were struggling to make up the Cavan lead."
For Cavan boss Raymond Galligan, it was a day to savour. They brought massive energy to Castlebar, their focus sharpened ever since the provincial quarter-final loss to Tyrone.
"It was always our intention after we exited the Ulster Championship to really put the head down and focus on bringing a huge performance today because obviously we knew we really underperformed in Ulster," he said.
"We had a lot of setbacks along the way too with injuries and that so we knew today was going to be a really tough challenge. But to be fair to a man they just really, really worked so hard and I think that was the foundation of our success.
"You know we put a big emphasis on our fitness over the last number of weeks to make sure that we could compete at this level because we're under no illusions with Mayo being a Division 1 team and being in the league final that they were a very athletic team.
"I suppose the reality is now it we're now in the competition until the very last day. Last year we found ourselves on the two tough really tough defeats early doors and you know it does kind of eat away with confidence and morale because obviously you're always trying to find positives. We know we're under a really tough task."
