Just hours after landing back in Australia from international duty, an exhausted McKay watched on from the sidelines last Thursday as his team-mates snapped a four-game A-League losing streak in scintillating fashion.
McKay says it was a result that has done wonders for Brisbane as it prepares to face Suwon Bluewings in an all-important AFC Champions League clash on Wednesday night in Korea.
"The attitude's always been there but we needed a result to get the spirits up," he said.
"The boys were hurting, we hadn't been on a good run and had some bad results at a time of the season we needed to do well.
"To have such a complete performance was brilliant.
"We had the right attitude throughout.
"We went and pressed like we had in the past, a lot better than we had been previously.
"That result really does help and hopefully we can push on."
The fact McKay wasn't needed against the Mariners topped it off.
The 32 year-old has now had nearly a full week to prepare for the Suwon clash, which will effectively decide Roar's Asian fate.
With Beijing Guoan the runaway leader of Group G, Brisbane and Suwon are tied in second place on four points.
Roar will be close to full-strength after the return of McKay, Luke DeVere, Corey Brown and James Donachie from international duty, while Thomas Broich is over his ankle problems and should start.
A selection nightmare looms for coach Frans Thijssen, with a logjam in the race for midfield positions worsened by Steven Lustica's stunning hat-trick against Central Coast and the emergence of boom youngster Devante Clut.
In its last meeting with Suwon, Roar gave up a 2-0 lead to draw 3-3 with the Koreans on the Gold Coast.
"The way we actually played was quite good," McKay said.
"To score three goals against a good Korean team is a great feat.
"We've made a few changes defensively and if we (can execute those) we shouldn't be in too much trouble."
