Mayo GAA Discussion Thread

Only d'BIG TWO and the d'small two left now. Just like the olden days. An interesting Connacht final seems guaranteed now.

From http://mayogaablog.com/?p=12851 incorporating a statement from the County Board in relation to the injury:

I’ve done some enquiring today about the situation regarding Cillian’s injury and having spoken with well-placed sources it’s clear that the injury is a serious one and it will definitely rule him out of the Roscommon match in three weeks time. He’s due to be assessed this coming week to see if surgery is an immediate requirement and if it is (which it may or may not be, this will depend on the assessment) that’s likely to be it for this year for the two-times Young Footballer of the Year.
If surgery isn’t required immediately, I’m told that an operation will be needed in any case later in the year so a number of months post-surgery recuperation will be on the cards at some point, either straight away or later in the year. Even if an operation doesn’t have to be undertaken now, it’s still very likely that the injury will rule Cillian out for some time, which means that at the very least we shouldn’t be under any illusions that he’ll be back anytime soon. Depressing news, I know, but that’s the way it is.
The County Board have tonight confirmed the position regarding Cillian with this statement, which reads in full as follows:

On Saturday 25th May while on club championship duty for Ballintubber, Cillian O’Connor suffered what can be described as quite a significent shoulder injury. The injury sustained was to the same shoulder as Cillian previously hurt last October. While the initial diagnosis is that Cillian has suffered a dislocated shoulder to a similar injury suffered last year, more assessment is needed. Cillian will undergo a further scan next Thursday and will meet with the specialists then to determine the extent of the injury and the treatment required. Cillian will continue to work with the excellent medical team who will no doubt have Cillian back playing for Mayo as soon as he is physically able to. In the meantime we wish Cillian all the best in his recovery and look forward to seeing him again very soon in the Green & Red of Mayo.

The above statement is fairly carefully worded, laying plenty of stress on the need for further assessment and the decisions that’ll need to be taken later in the week about the medical treatment that will be required. However, the description of the injury as “significant” mirrors the language used by the Board in their official statement last August when Andy Moran did his cruciate and the bit about having Cillian back playing “as soon as he is physically able to” is, I think, a bit of a giveaway too. In other words, nobody should be getting their hopes up about an early return to the fray for the talented Ballintubber man.
From James Horan’s vantage point, the only thing that matters right now is that Cillian won’t, like Michael Conroy and maybe a few others as well, be available for selection to face Roscommon on June 16th. It’s this match and who’ll be available for selection for us that we need to keep focused on, not least because, after today’s shock result in Ruislip, the Rossies – who, from what I’m hearing, will be a hell of a lot better drilled this year than they were twelve months ago (not difficult, I know) – will know that if they manage to upset the applecart on us, a handy Connacht title awaits for them.
As a result, loose talk about who might or might not be available for us in August or September is, I reckon, best avoided right now. Instead, we need to concentrate our thoughts on the resources still available to us to face the Sheepstealers three weeks from now. As ever in the Championship, it’s a case of one match at a time.

Get well soon Cillian, time for the likes of Dillon and Doherty to step up and take resposibility for thr free taking.

Hopefully Doherty will be the next player to step up and show his past league form in the championship. He has a great chance of a regular start now for his free taking ability and we know the goal scoring potential that is there also.

McLoughlin Dillon Carolan
Varley Moran Doherty

with Freeman, Feeney, Regan and Coen to come in is still a strong forward line for the Roscommon game. Hopefully Conroy will be back before too long as well. Sadly, I think it might be best for the player himself if Cillian has the surgery he needs now, even if it means his season is over as a result. Not a good idea to take any risks with a repeat injury.

Breaffy a good beat for the County title looking at those odds?

Seem to have started the year very well.

Any word on Cillian? I know that they were expected to be told today the exent of the injury..

Pretty sure they new yesterday the extent of his injuries!

yop wrote: »

The scan was Thursday so weren't going to know on Wednesday

He and anyone near him knew the extent of it very soon after it happened. The consultant saw him as soon as he was in the hospital so that helped. Ive discolated my shoulder 7 times on 4 of those occasions I waited for 10 hours overnight for it to be reduced. No fun. Unfortunately for me, not being an intercounty footballer, I got no preferential treatment.

I've heard from a few people that they are not going to operate, surgery will be required but not until the end of the season. He'll be out for 6 weeks so will be back for the Quarter Finals.

padd b1975 wrote: »

Good news I suppose, But he is looking at a summer of every opposition player looking to have a rattle at his weak shoulder.

I think this is the very worst thing he could do. If this was the first occurrence you could almost understand but it's the second time in a little over seven months his shoulder has broken down. There's obviously something seriously wrong with it and trying to play on could end up creating a Michael Meehan situation of a chronic injury that shadows his entire playing career, nevermind the effects it could have on his life in general. A shoulder injury is one of the nastiest things you can get and it can have a real impact on your quality of life.

I suppose he's thinking Mayo have a shot at an AI this year and he wants the chance to be involved but it's verging close to madness to try and get away with this one. Far better if he's shut down for the year and gets surgery and is able to get his shoulder fully healthy before stepping on a pitch.

No opposition player is going to be sentimental about his plight and rightly so. If you put yourself in the firing line you need to be damn sure you're fit.

Itoa wrote: »

Bit of worst case scenario there! In reality when the consult saw him he wouldn't have been thinking about weather or not Mayo are going to be playing in an All-Ireland final. He would have given COC an option of what to do. If not having surgery until after a summer of playing football was going to do his health harm he would not have given him the that option.

It hardly works lilke that. For one players in every sport regularly disregard doctor's wishes to get back on the field but obviously if you need surgery on something you have the surgery immediately or as soon as humanly possible, that's simply good practice. I highly doubt choosing to delay surgery on a (re!)injured shoulder was the ideal scenario for any surgeon. There is always going to be a risk attached to playing when you know something needs corrective surgery when the season is over.

Photos of todays match, http://pix.ie/mayomick/album/467405


Some hammering today

16 points is quite a big score to concede though...