People miss the point about cillian o Connor. It isnât his fault people try make him out to be a marquee forward or a bottler. Cillian o Connor isnât particularly strong, nor fast, he hasnât great vision, he is an average striker, very unorthodox anyway and he isnât surrounded by any other good forwards but my Christ he keeps coming back for more and more. Heâs so limited but pushes himself to the very max of his ability. I know in my county If some of the limerick players(blessed with tonnes more ability) had the same desperation to win, mental strength to keep on improving and repeatedly taking control in high pressure situations and putting the pressure squarely on their shoulders; weâd be much better off. Iâve never seen cillian shirk responsibility in a mayo jersey. He may always fail but my god you can not but admire the man.
Bar Clones to the North & Salthill options are scarce thereafter tbf.
No one denies that but what gets up the back of people is his antics outside of actually playing. Constantly trying to get lads booked and black carded, always moaning to umpires, dishing out sneaky little elbows and belts etc.
No need for it.
he is a cheating wanker that is shit
that was a really poor contest
for the sake of the championship youâd be hoping Mayo will take the replay as Kerry Roscommon would be a procession
thereâs a possibility kerry could be in a final without getting a decent game in the entire championship bar a few minutes v Clare if Roscommin win, one would iamgine Mayo would raise a gallop but they look a bit worn out now, theyâll never win an all ireland
Mayo certainly do things the hard way⌠what- ifs etc, but if Cork had converted any of those goal chances last Saturday theyâd be getting ready for another croke park trimming by Kerry in a few weeks
we had two great games yesterday but the winners of both wont dent Dublin or Tyroneâs charge, today then we had 2 very poor games, one a touncing and the other âŚwell just poor⌠the football championship may not be as healthy as people think as they inevitability of septemberâs pairing
(that looked so obvious post the NFL) comes to pass⌠we always hope for suprises, etc in sport but the predicatbility of the football championship bar say Tippâs cameo last yearâŚim not sure of this is a vintage era for football
Heâs a prick and is very limited but he does make the most out of his abilities.
However his movement for the ball as one of Mayoâs main forwards is appalling. Jamie Clarke was sensational last night but the most impressive aspect from him was his movement. I think Clarkeâs performance last night is one of the greatest Iâve ever seen. In the second half he was playing in front of me in the Hogan. He was bursting himself time and time again with hard running, lung bursting 30 and 40 yard runs, it was selfless and inspirational.
Itâs the kind of leadership you want and for me that is ultimately the biggest downfall for OâConnor. He can finish, he can track back, he can kick pressure scores but he simply does not want to or will not win that hard ball for his side. When you watch the effort Mark Bradley or Jamie Clarke will give for their sides compared to OâConnor, itâs night and day.
As the greatest venue in the GAA, Clones would have been a sensational choice.
ah it has to be Pairc Ui Frainc
The Meath 1991 analogy is a good one and apt as that Meath side was something of a Dadâs Army making their last stand. Tyrone still had a good bit of life in them after 2005. Just looking at the match programme there from the 2006 U21 All Ireland Final which Mayo won - 5 of the Mayo starting team today started that final - Ger Cafferky, Keith Higgins, Chris Barrett, Colm Boyle and Seamus OâShea. David Clarke and Andy Moran will both be 34 later this year. Thatâs 7 of todayâs starting team over 30. The likes of Lee Keegan, Tom Parsons, Aidan OâShea, Donal Vaughan, Jason Doherty, Kevin McLoughlin would all be around the 28-29 mark as well.
You were looking at an old programme
Weird
2006 U-21 final, not 2007.
agreed on Clarke,
He was unreal last night, id say up there with the best i have seen
id imagine Macarron will break him in half first ball in next week and that will be that
Yeah, sorry typo 2006. That crew of 5 are around 31-32. Its a very old age profile for an inter-county team. I thought I heard it mentioned in commentary during the Kildare v Armagh game last night that there was only one player in both starting line ups over 30.
Yes, 31 year-old Ollie Lyons.
To be fair Jamie Clarke never played as well as that for Armagh before last night so a bit unfair on COC
Well itâs the type of display a top forward will deliver when his team needs it. Iâve seen OâConnor play live 5 or 6 times now. Heâs never burst himself or ran himself to the ground like Clarke did in that second half last night. If he had done so in a final for Mayo they may well have won one.
Did he not score 6 points or so from play the last day? When Jamie Clarke shows he can do it against the Kerry or Dublin you can make the comparison
I thought OâConnor showed more in the first half today than he has done before. And he was willing to take the clutch shots at the end. But he is also a sneaky, moany little fucker that rubs a lot of people up the wrong way.
He can score points but he doesnât want the ball, he looks for guys to do the work for him and take the shots on. He has zero interest in winning or showing for the hard ball. It was evident how badly Mayo struggled today when Moran was struggling to win ball.
OâConnor doesnât want to know about it.
You werenât there to see Clarke yesterday, it was awesome inspiring in that second half. Again and again and again he absolutely burst himself running hard for 30 or 40 yards to win hard ball. Cillian OâConnor is not a self sufficient forward and thatâs why he is not top level.
Kerry were in about 2nd gear today. They only ever start peaking in late August if its a potentially tricky semi final or September for the final. They havenât won 37 All Irelandâs for nothing. For all the tut tutting about their defence, they donât concede many goals. Theyâve kept clean sheets in their last four Championship games in Croke Park. The last goal they conceded in a Championship game in Croke Park was a penalty to Tyrone in the 2015 semi final. Before that they kept a clean sheet against Donegal in the 2014 final win when Donegal were supposedly going to run riot and match their haul of goals against Dublin from the semi final.