Mayo GAA Discussion Part 2

I think Doherty could be in a spot of trouble this year. He is a hard worker and does a lot of the unglamourous work, but we have too many of those tbh, and forwards need to score. He doesn't, not anymore anyway.

I'd like to see Diarmuid doing less of the up and down the field stuff too. While he is great for that and has a massive engine, he's also good for a score. He nearly created a goal out of nothing when he came on against Monaghan last week and set up another great attacking move against Kerry last night. I think he needs to be utilised in a proper attacking way, rather than moulding him into another all-rounder. Same with Cillian.

What do people think of Conor O'Shea? The jury's still out on him for me. He was completely out of steam in the second half yesterday and should have been subbed at the break, imo. At times it looked like his head wasn't even in it, never mind the body.

seligehgit wrote: »

As you say the jury is very much out on Conor O Shea,he's an awful tendency go down blind alleys or across the pitch with little end result.He's not threatening the scoreboard enough and appears reticent to take shots out of risk of failure,pass the responsibility for same.

I dunno, I think he covers an awful amount of ground and aside from a few occasions where he does run himself into a corner and have little in the way of support, I thought he was good enough to warrant his start last night. He's the pacier of the 3 brother and he's well able to field a ball, and with the mark rule that's something quite positive. He's ahead of Kirby for a starting place in my book, but I'll be quite honest in saying Kirby has a bit more to prove to me for me to believe he's Intercounty Championship standard.
Conor Probably should have scored a goal when he got the point but I thought his passing and movement were both quite strong. I think he has a lot of potential, whether we get to see it all is quite another story.

PARlance wrote: »

Despite not being a fan, I think there's a part to play for Freeman, Donerty & Conor O'S. It's not a starting spot and they probably play a bigger role once you hit Croke Park, i.e when you might need that physicality and athleticism late on in a game on the bigger faster pitch.

2 out of the 3 of them is probably enough in the squad though.

If you were to drop Doherty from last years starting AI 6 forwards, who would you replace him with?

PARlance wrote: »

Tbh, the more I'm thinking about it (I mentioned the same last week), the following the line up I would be aiming for:

Keegan(?), McLoughs, DO'C
AO'S, CO'C

With the 6th being a sweeper. On the inside, the rest of the league and early championship would be dedicated to making Aidan a full forward. Cillian to stay as close to the goal as possible. Andy there as an impact sub.

McLoughs is a sweeper imo, he is a valuable attacking option and if he could rediscover his form of a few years ago, would be like a new attacking addition. Diarmuid needs to do more of his work where it will hurt. Keegan would be a bold, bold and maybe crazy move but I wouldn't fancy picking him up.

I think that half forward line would cause plenty of headaches, with the 2 lads running and McLoughs pulling the strings. If O'Shea and O'Connor "clicked" on the inside it could be massive.

So, in effect, I'm the only Mayo man saying that we don't need a new forward or two

I've come to this mainly because I don't see the "something missing" being solved by any of last years squad (Regan, Donerty, Freeman etc) and I think it's a year or two too soon to be looking for last years U21's for a saviour.

Moving Keegan into the forwards would be a very bold move indeed!

It's not going to happen though. Keegan role last year was to man mark and negate the oppositions main man - Walsh for Galway, cavanagh for Tyrone, Connolly for Dublin. Was he marking Quinlivan v Tipp? He excelled so much at this role that I doubt it will change this year.

naughto wrote: »

Doherty has being rubbish for a long time now he's had plenty of chances same with freeman

Doherty had a very good game in the drawn all Ireland final and gave Dublin a fair bit of trouble... They even assigned James McCarthy to man mark him in the replay... That is one more good game than Aidan O'Shea had last year. Why isn't there a rush to dismiss him?

Some games do tend to pass him by - Im not denying that, but he has had some good performances too and he should get credit for them. Doherty would start for me. The thing is, the guys coming behind him aren't noticeably better, and Doherty has a lot of experience of big games and is coming into his prime as a player..
There isn't much point going through the hard yards developing a guy, only to drop him for someone younger who is much the same as regards quality, and then go through the hard yards with him too..

The thing with Doherty, he is a bit like Donnacha Walsh, not a huge scorer, but smart, a great work ethic, maybe lacking a yard of pace but has a touch of cuteness to him too, hidden behind a baby face and clean reputation (which shouldn't be underestimated - Walsh is one of the most cynical players in the game, but never gets caught). The difference with Walsh is he is surrounded with heavy scorers, so doesn't get the flak for not scoring as much. We don't have that, so Doherty gets it in the neck. The real issue is that guys AOS, Cillian O'Connor etc are not scoring as much from play as their counterparts from other counties...

Cillian needs to be more available up front. Our attacks were being channelled through Andy Moran against Kerry because all too often Cillian was up the field doing other work. Cillian is smart enough to play the all-rounder role, but I still think he is better closer to goal. He used to be a goal-scoring threat once upon a time.

Keegan is fine as is. He is best when running from the back.

Harsh critique of Conor. I thought he put in a good shift overall. A bit more confidence & he would have buried that goal chance.

Dose anyone no if westports game is on tv next Sunday?

There is a discussion going on in the Roscommon thread about our former All Star player and hero to many a young lad in the 80s and 90s, and his influence on the Roscommon training setup, and it once again convinces me that we dodged a bullet big time by not giving the managers job the guys brother in law a few years back.

For all the drama of H & C it could have been a whole lot worse.

Oh and I'm posting this here rather than there because I'm being a good boy and respecting the "do not post here again" warning I got there last summer.

James Durcan,Cian Costello,Cathal Carolan, Gareth O Donnell and David Kenny have been released back to their clubs and will play no further part in the Mayo Senior panel for 2017.

Good news,Aidan O Shea is I believe training with the squad tonight.

http://www.mayonews.ie/sports/29480-freeman-leaves-mayo-senior-squad

Also mentioned they are probably appealing parsons red

km79 wrote: »

http://www.mayonews.ie/sports/29480-freeman-leaves-mayo-senior-squad

Also mentioned they are probably appealing parsons red

I'm very sorry to hear that as Alan Freeman has given great service to the county,having said that I'm not entirely surprised given his struggles to attain a starting position.

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

When he came on the scene first, I thought he was total quality. He never quite got going though. Probably a mixture of poor form, not taking his opportunities when given to them, managers not showing enough faith in him (e.g. being first man taken off when things not going well, or leaving it too late to bring him on). In the last couple of years, it looked like he was good enough to be on the edge of the squad but nothing more. And at his age, that is not a nice place to be.

That's a fair reflection in my view. Struck me as perhaps being a bit too "nice" at times, easily pushed off the ball. He was certainly capable on his day, but that hasn't been seen for a few years now to be honest.

seligehgit wrote: »

Silly me,I couldn't open the link before posting.He is leaving the panel for the time being due to work commitments.So difficult for modern players to balance work and play commitments.

Yeah, but do you think he would be leaving if he thought he would be starting for Mayo this year? Somehow, I doubt he would be leaving if that was the case.

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

When he came on the scene first, I thought he was total quality. He never quite got going though. Probably a mixture of poor form, not taking his opportunities when given to them, managers not showing enough faith in him (e.g. being first man taken off when things not going well, or leaving it too late to bring him on). In the last couple of years, it looked like he was good enough to be on the edge of the squad but nothing more. And at his age, that is not a nice place to be.

I think everyone thought he had cracked it in the 2013 SF when Cillian went off and he stepped up.

Then he was pulled in the final after 20mins for whatever reason and he has not been the same since.

But I'll always remember his contribution to the 2014 QF v Cork.

Cork were coming back at Mayo in the second half and Freeman fought like a lunatic for a ball that others would have given up on over on the Hogan stand side that a few seconds later lead the a Mayo goal.

It was one of the highlights of the year.