Conor Mortimer has recalled meeting team liason officer Noel Howley two years ago with a view to returning to the Mayo football panel.

The two met in a Dublin hotel just a few weeks after Mortimer had sensationally quit James Horan's squad after being left out of the Mayo team that beat Sligo in the Connacht final. However, the Parnells clubman claims he never heard anything back after that.

"I don't feel I made a mistake for what I did, but not being able to play football again, that's the mistake I would have made," the 32-year-old told breakinplay.ie.

"Not for the reasons I did or didn't do, it was the fact that I couldn't play again. . . I never retired from Mayo. I left at that time.

"I never really foresaw that I'd never play again for Mayo. It didn't cross my mind really. . . it was at that time."

He added: "He (Howley) had a chat with me and by the end of the chat I said yeah, I'd meet Horan. I was swinging the way to having the chat with him and see what happens.

"But he (Howley) obviously went back to him (Horan) and he obviously said no, tough s**t, so I didn't hear a word after that. That was it."

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