Kevin McLoughlin was more than happy to switch to wing back in Mayo's hour of need at Croke Park on Sunday.

James Horan dropped the free-scoring attacker back into defence following the 33rd-minute dismissal of Lee Keegan during the drawn All-Ireland SFC semi-final against Kerry and the Knockmore clubman could well be utilised in the same role for Saturday's replay in Limerick.

"We knew we had to change something," McLoughlin told the Irish Times. "I was shocked when I saw Lee sent off, because I didn't see it. I honestly didn't know what had happened or what to expect.

"The main thing is that I went to wing-back, and we just sorted ourselves out. We had to play with 14 men, so we just had to manage it as best as we could, up in the forwards. I have played wing back before, which helped a lot. I just had to do a job, and just had to work away. When you are given a job you just have to do it.

"We knew we were a man down, that we had to work that bit harder, and just got back into the game. And yeah that meant holding onto the ball more. We just had to, because they had the extra man. For us, it was hard to see a man inside. So we had to hold onto it, really. It was not necessarily by choice."

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