Aidan O'Shea felt Stephen Gollogly's first half dismissal was the "turning point" in Mayo's ultimately comfortable victory over Monaghan.

The experienced centre forward was sent off on a straight red card for striking in the 28th minute and was followed to the sideline by team-mate Ryan Wylie in the 54th minute after he pushed Mark Ronaldson into the perimeter fencing.

"The turning point was Stephen Gollogly getting sent off. It gave us a chance to regroup at half-time and use the extra-man to our advantage," O'Shea told RTE.

"In fairness Monaghan came out well in the second half. Darren Hughes came on and made a big difference. But our first goal (which O'Shea scored himself in the 50th minute) was a momentum-changer for us at the right time,

"In the second half we were a lot more clinical and you can see that from the three goals we got."

The All Star midfielder was also pleased that Mayo were able to put their surprise home defeat to Tyrone in the last round behind them.

"We didn't play well and we weren't the Mayo we know we can be. "We wanted to put that right today and we achieved that," he added.

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