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Have agree with a lot that's being said here re oshea did OK against a sh1te galway team,was very poor against dublin then the free kick just summed up his night.
Don't think he deserves his place for kerry to be honest (didn't realise he was 34)last 20 massive impact sub for us.Coc to start he hasn't played much since ballintubber got knocked out.
Yes Mahedy would be a wild card that could unsettle the opposition. He can score from distance too which is a valuable trait in this era of packed defences.
Yeah, long term he's a huge prospect too. Himself and Brian Reape looked deadly at times linking up for Moy Davitts this year in his first year adult (arguably had the better first year at intermediate/senior of the two). Long term you'd expect him to fill the Cillian sort of role of a 'boring' consistently heavy scorer (certainly club and hopefully county) with Niall offering more of the RO'D/Tommy style explosiveness & creativity (and hopefully heavy scoring too). The explosive pace to potentially create goals why Niall would edge infront in my mind but having not caught any of the 20s games this year (I know they'd a challenge against Derry on Saturday, rushing to get in to the Senior game on time) I could be miles off on what's happening on the pitch.
Maheady from Crossmolina could be ahead of the two for now in terms of the physicals to push towards senior (wouldn't be far off Duffy you'd imagine). Wouldn't quite offer the explosivness of Hurley but another that can pull off some outrageous scores and a flair for the unexpected our existing options (outside McHale) are potentially a touch short on.
Is Ronan Clarke another option? He seemed to be a great prospect at minor alongside the Hurley lad when they reached the AI final a few years ago.
Yeah the Mayo blog is very polarised. At least you can have an opinion here without causing a meltdown response.
Aidan will probably be better the next day and he often plays well against Kerry. But he is nearly 34 and I think a pacier player is needed for championship football. If Diamuid gets back he may slot in at midfield or at 11 and that might free up someone for full forward. And if Aidan happened to get injured (he rarely does to his credit) they would manage to come up with someone to replace him.
I'd expect to see O'Shea getting the nod most of the year and if we play smart around him (unlike Saturday) us making hay from it. We didn't have the legs for runners off him, a huge part of why he's in there, and between shocking balls kicked at cover and the couple he slipped the catch on it'll be the perfect way to fire him up for Kerry. I'd feel sorry for whoever is picking him up at training over the break. He'll have a point to prove.
That said, always great to have options for every position and always nice to have nonsense to talk about so no harm a discussion around options in there....
Darren McHale one that has always oozed potential, started to deliver on it at times (consistently for Knockmore and flashes for Mayo), but keeps getting rocked with injuries to set him back. You'd love to see him put a run of fitness together. I'd well believe a run of form would quickly follow.
CO'C, Carr, D McHale, Towey, Irwin, Quinn, Duffy and McStay the ones you'd hope might start to push (Callaghan, O'Flaherty, D Quinn and Reilly we've seen involved too so potentially pushing). Lads like Tuohy/Carney/DO'C could be pushed inside as alternative (different) target men, someone like Hession used for a whole different setup in attack or potential for Sigerson lads like Fallon or McHale to make a late push and offer something. (I'd love to see young Niall Hurley brought in from the 20s but can only imagine the abuse he'd take given his style of play so probably the correct decision to leave him be another year or two while they get the base S&C needed done)
Can't say I've ever seen what James or Kevin obviously do in Conor McStay (be it club or county) to have him in there (I'd have a Regan, Cunningham, Heneghan, Moran, Hopkins or Reape ahead of him) but hopefully he can prove me very wrong this year. I'd be delighted if he does.
On Saturday I thought it was very apparent how light Towey is compared to Top intercounty players. Even smaller players like Fergal Boland and Ryan O'Donoghue have physiques capable of battling with these defenders. Its a shame if he can't figure out how to deal with them because he is sensational for scores at club level.
Wouldn't disagree much with that, but ultimately it's up to someone else to grab the jersey off him.
Cillian hasn't shown any form yet, jury still definitely out on Towey, Carr is on the way back from knee surgery I believe. Who else is there that deserves to start alongside Ryan and Tommy C?
Good to be able to have a reasoned discussion about it anyway,the Mayo blog has finally tipped the balance of more eejits than rational people.
Aido isn't really there to take scores,he's not or never has been an out and out scorer. His job is to win ball,creat chances for others,disrupt defenses and tackle.
I'm not confident with him taking the right sided frees and neither is he it seems (similar to Kevin McLoughlin before him) Being left footed doesn't guarantee the skill,execution and mindset of a free taker.
He's definitely off the pace in the first 2 league games,whether that's form,getting on a bit,fitness or match sharpness we don't know.Hes just back from holiday so behind everyone else in work done.
I think he's earned the right to see if he comes good.
It could be viewed as overreacting if it related to one game but I believe Aidan's performances have dipped over a much longer period. He had a decent league last year when the pitches were heavier and the play was slower. But since then the scores have dried up. 1 point from a free against Dublin in the quarters last year and no score from 2 league games so far.
Paddy Andrews said that no matter how well the Dublin forwards played in general they all had to score or else they wouldnt make the team. So if Aidan isn't scoring he really needs to be featuring heavily in creating assists for others near the goal but that doesn't seem to be happening now either. I honestly can't see what role he has now.
We're constantly told not to overreact when winning during the league, the same surely applies when someone plays poorly!
I think Aidan played quite well vs Galway. Was out in front the whole time in the first half winning ball and laying it off. He was still out in front of his marker a lot last Saturday too. Unusually for him he had several handling errors which shouldn't happen too often again. When Reid went off injured we only had 5 forwards on the pitch so Dublin constantly had a sweeper cutting out kick passes to our full forward line. That obviously limits what Aidan can do as he's not going to come out on the loop taking shots.
He's not a natural free taker but what other option have we for left footed ones?! Teams will be wise to us going short after the last night too!
He is apparently not long back from holidays in fairness so he will probably have a bit of work to do on sharpness and fitness. Even so I thought it was very noticeable against Galway how the play slowed when he got the ball. We really could do with a target man in there but if his marker is out to the ball before him and he hasn't the pace to go past a defender then his effectiveness will be very limited.
Yes I also mentioned last week that McStay doesn't seem to want both of them on the field at the same time. They would both struggle to track their markers and that's an important part of the modern game.
In an ideal world, as @TsuDhoNimh mentions, someone would grab that starting spot. Nobody claiming it just yet though.
But on the other hand, I'm not sure if both Aidan and Cillian can be impact subs. You're bringing down the pace of the team if both are coming on late.
Aiden was brutal on Saturday evening but it's worth remembering that he was one of our best players last year in at FF (including in the 1st half v Dublin); with the right ball and better handling, he can still be a big player for us
I agree that Dublin were a big step up. I thought it noticeable in the first half that some Mayo players looked out of breath trying to get the ball back off the Dubs as they sprayed the ball around. They eventually adjusted though.
Aidan has a lot of attributes but mainly in the areas of ball winning and tackling. I'm not sure he ever fully developed his game outside of that in terms of movement and understanding how to work with his team mates to create opportunities. I think that has been evident with Breaffy as well as Mayo. He has given great service in fairness but maybe the bench is his best place now.
I think it was Dublin that made us look leggy at times. We might have had a hard weeks training or whatever but I do think the quality of opposition made a big difference in how we looked. They were a huge step up on Galway.
It'll be interesting to see how we use Aido by the time Championship comes around. I think the better teams have long since figured out how to play him and I think he needs to be an impact player for those games.
Not trying to strir it but just heard the announcer in Breffni ask for a round of applause for the kids on the pitch entertaining us during half time.
Horses for courses 😎
Great vision from ROD and composure from Boland to get that point.
I think my main grip with Coen through the years was his risk averse approach when on the ball. Usually going for a very safe hand pass option. In fairness he does seem to have improved on this and willing to take more ownership in progressing the play up the field. Evident in the Tyrone AI, as he was one of the few who came out with any credit that day.
Funnily the man Coen replaced, Eoghan McLaughlin, is the polar opposite. The most hyper risk player I’ve seen in a long time. He can be the winning or losing of a game. He has that electric pace though, which makes taking on people a lot easier.
Agree with you on O Shea, he definitely is a good option and can offer a lot but he shouldn’t be undroppable either. He probably could do with a rest to, lots of mileage on the clock. There’s a few lads who would love a run of games in the full forward line and we need to figure alternative game plan options to the big man inside.
I do agree that most of the ball kicked into O Shea was poor and didn’t help him. Definitely works needs to be done on the training ground on the type of kick pass given inside and movement of the inside line. Hard to see on TV but looked like there was a lack of movement and separation from markers. I know this is easier said than done when facing a blanket but when it works it’s extremely effective, as seen with the Bob Tuohy score.
Coen was doing a lot of that last year too, fair play to him. I'd have long been calling for options with faster legs back there despite the leadership/organisation he's always offered but delighted to admit he proved me wrong in terms of overall value back there. He's noticeably improved on his vision/distribution/scanning/shooting in the last few years.
The lads looked leggy from the off, so no more than Galway not panicking about last week (despite it being a repeat of many Championship troubles of the past to many of them) I'd not overly dwell on the creativity concerns from last night (despite them being ones that have haunted us for years). The quality of runs off the shoulder, quality of ball kicked in and ability to make use of both increases dramatically (along with much greater physicality and pressure on the kicker when defending) when the tank isn't so empty. No idea if it was heavy training block during the week (good) or just natural fatigue from the last few weeks (more worrying) but we were definately down from 90% against Galway to about 40% yesterday (very noticable how long it took for legs to get moving at the start of both halves).
Aido had a howler by his standards, dropping a few balls he'd catch 99% of the time. That said, he wasn't helped by a lot of what happened around him. He's there for receiving the kicks to chest (outside of the few he dropped/fumbled there were so many kicks put straight into Lee Gannon or another Dublin defender sweeping. So hard to make up for a mistake and get your head right when the next 4 attempts go straight to an opponent), fast hands for the quick 1-2 bouncing board for strike runners (we had none up front last night. The legs didn't look to be there between training/Sigerson) and winning frees when the defence can't handle him doing the first 2 (2 lads booked for fouling him, 2 more should have been, about a dozen potential frees for abuse on/off the ball not given - so a mixed bag on that one).
He was lucky to avoid punishment for the couple of high hits. Not sure if those were accidental or frustration, hopefully the former. Certainly wouldn't be writing him off on the back of the performance or anything (not aimed at you howdo, just the odd angry twitter poster that always seem out for Aidan). He'll be playing a huge role for us this year but as you say, great to let some of the alternatives have a little time together on the pitch. Be interesting to see if/when management go for mobile alternatives (Conroy/RO'D/Carr), alternative big men to have to be handled (Carney and Tuohy both used for this in the past), straight swaps (CO'C/Irwin/McHale in to play full forward differently) or something else.
Was that because of Dublin not exploiting space or because of good defending though? I felt they still looked loose at the back and giving plenty of space. Dublin just didn't exploit it, which is a problem of their own.
I haven't been able to go to the first 2 matches. Have seen them on TV, but not the same. How is McBrien getting on at number 6. He's a completely different player than Conor Loftus. Does it seem to be working? From watching it on TV, McBrien seems to be doing well - keeping things tight up the middle. But I'd be interested in the views of anyone who was at the matches, as you can get a better perspective. Fergal Boland at 11 is a good call so far. Suits him much better than on the wing, where you are generally expected to run up and down the wing and take on players. Fergal seems to have the composure for a more playmaker type role. Will be interesting to see how that develops.
Everyone was giving out we roared out of the blocks last year and then fell apart in the summer. Now we have started slow and people are still giving out.
I wouldn't say that - we haven't given away much in the way of goal chances this year which was a big problem for us in recent years. Up front is still laboured though
Yeah there wasn't much shown last night that would fill me with confidence. Dublin were further away from full strength than we were and still probably should have won it. Didn't see much evidence that the problems from last year are being looked at and rectified.
Even though we got the win that performance has me concerned. Seemed to have no idea how to unlock the Dublin defence. Same problem as last year. Got lucky with a few soft frees that kept us in it.
I’m usually very critical of Coen as a player but he won us the game. He made the goal and gave the kick pass to Ryan at the end. He actually seemed to be one of the few players who had the head up scanning for a long pass and actually was willing to kick it in.
I think we should drop O’Shea for a few games to see how we get on without him. We need fresh ideas in the forward line.
Yes Paddy stands out a mile in terms of leadership. But we really need that upfront as well. Ideally it should be at number 11 but no one has nailed down that position for some time. Possibly Diarmuid when he comes back is the best hope of that.
Mcstay appears to have a policy of either Aidan or Cillian on the field at the one time but not both. I'd have to agree with that as neither appear to have the legs or pace to track their markers at this stage. 2 rampaging opposition defenders could do serious damage to Mayo. It's very noticeable at this stage how much Aidan slows the play and I'm not sure what role he can have now other than coming on late in a game to shore up a lead.
My reliable source said he expected to play last night, which would be closer to McStays version.
Great to get the win even if we didn't really deserve it. It takes the pressure off for the rest of the league
Paddy motm for me, he was by far and away our best player. Carney and Mcbrien the only others that stood out imo. Probably Aiden's worst ever game for Mayo, he just couldn't hold the ball (not the only one dropping it though)
In the 2nd half, almost every Dublin kickout went down their left side and we didn't do a thing about it, it allowed them a fairly easy out; would like to see the sideline sharper on that
One last thing, I thought the booing for Costello's free at the end of the first half was awful to hear, cut that shite out
Diarmuid out until after the league is what I heard during the week from a reliable source. Completely at odds with what McStay said last nite apparently
