Worth mentioning that Bryan Sheehan is living on his reputation as a stone cold killer from long range frees. Cant honestly recall the last one he nailed.At least the last minute variety anyway.
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For me playing OâShea on Donaghy was a qualified success. Despite having a fine match in a playmaking role, Donaghyâs primary threat, ie. that of creating goals from high balls, was nullified.
Had Donaghy not been in that playmaking role, somebody else would have been able to take it on. But nobody can replicate his role as a full-forward.
As has already been said, Geaney and OâDonoghueâs effectiveness was limited as a result of not having Donaghy in his usual role.
Mayo need to eliminate personal mistakes. 2-6 of Kerryâs total came from mistakes and stupid frees.
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Can you point to evidence to the contrary mate, yesterdays would have been absolutely extraordinary in fairness, I think heâs one of the best ball strikers Iâve seen.
Andy Moran was superb yesterday, Kerry were well off their own pace, Fitzmaurice has work to do but Iâd be very surprised if they didnât have a bit to spare the next day.
Also very hard for him to hit a long free like that coming into the game cold.
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Would Aidan OâShea have caused any more havoc at full forward than actually occurred?
Kerry set their defence up to stop the run through the middle and set up a wall of seven or eight players between the 45 and 65. They seemingly did not take the Mayo inside line seriously as a threat.
Mayo negated this time and again by simply playing a dink ball over that wall, usually into Jason Doherty, who was out time and again in front of Mark Griffin and then Tadhg Morley.
Then a runner would come through and take that ball off the shoulder as that wall of Kerry players ballwatched, or as with the first goal, carnage would ensue.
Kerry were incredibly slow to get back. Time and time again in the first half Mayo engineered a 3 on 3, a 2 on 2 or better up front.
That wall of players was deeper after half-time and the goal threat wasnât as much.
Had OâShea been at full forward, Kerry likely would have doubled up on him and there would have been less space in front of goal.
Kerry surely canât be as defensively naive in the replay as they were yesterday.
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I tend to agree.
If you look at Kerry v. Cork they blitzed them early with ball into the middle and really quick off loading. I think this approach is to get ready for Dublin (something i think has clouded Fitzmaurice and has regressed Kerry) and by clogging the middle with a big man they were hitting 2 birds with one stone so to speak
Well, all things being equal, yes. Of course if kerry decided to double mark him it would change the dynamic again.
I just donât think the advantage they got in limiting Donaghy catching high balls outweighed the loss of their own talisman player. Especially given the impact Donaghy had anyway.
Kerry donât have a full back to contain AOS. But if mayo played AOS full forward would kerry have moved Moran or Donaghy back to mark him? Not in a millions years. It wouldnât play to the strengths of their own players and betrays an attitude of fear of the opposition.
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Bar his sky scraping point to level it near the end, I donât recall him doing much of note on this game. Rory OâCarroll always had his number.
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Yeah his subs were poor again.
Drake is the weakest member of the panel according to most people in the county, yet Rochford insists in bringing him on at key stages. He offered nothing yesterday and killed a promising attack with a bad pass.
Nally is a good footballer and deserves more of a chance, but his reputed ability grows among the fans with ever minute he doesnât play, the âRichie Feeney Effectâ.
Loftus should have come in sooner alright, he wouldâve knocked over Barrett or Coenâs miss.
@Sidney mentioned Brian Reape, I would hope heâs involved next year. Heâs a goal hound with serious instincts, heâd be the type to learn and come on a lot if involved with a senior panel. Akram getting there too.
you are not a football man
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Agreed.
Kerry have been defensively naive all summer.
I expect them to be the same next Saturday.
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There are two ways you can look at it.
You can say OâShea wasnât an attacking factor in the game, Donaghy still was and Kerry scored two goals anyway.
Or you can say Donaghy didnât cause carnage and Geaney and OâDonoghue were limited as a result. Yes Mayo conceded two goals but for me they werenât really down to OâSheaâs failings -
one could sort of make argument they were as Donaghy gave the pass for the first and OâShea was out of position after missing the pass from Higgins for the second, but I wouldnât.
Donaghy might have caused carnage in the way he did in 2014 had he been marked by someone else. We donât know.
As it was, OâSheaâs positioning was part of Mayo performance in which they were comfortably the better team and should have won. Had they won by a point people would probably say the move was genius.
Itâs arguable either way, but I would stick to it being a qualified success, it certainly wasnât an unmitigated failure. Whether it should be repeated or not is certainly arguable.
The articles today by Eamonn Sweeney and Malachy Clerkin totally ridiculing the move are nonsense. Theyâve taken a result-based narrative and run with it, actually theyâve basically taken their narrative from a fictional result (ie. that of Kerry winning) and run with it.
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No, I donât think so. They would have said that Aidan OâShea was lost at full back and couldnât mark Donaghy, but even still Mayo were the better team overall.
This is becoming a real problem for Mayo. Theyâre effectively relying on 16 players, with Durcan the only sub who is really trusted to make a serious contribution.
Of the other three, Loftus might have something in him if he got a bit more time, but Coen is average and Drake is poor.
Nobody else seems to be trusted at all now by Rochford.
That could be what beats them in the end. Kerry will probably mix it up a bit and throw in a couple of players who didnât see any action yesterday, and they will again use their full complement of subs.
And thats arguably why they do not have a few more AIâs
For what its worth, every single person of gah background (most from kerry) felt it worked a treat.
Geaney getting frustrated was noted as a real rartity by more than one.
Geaney is a great player even off scraps .
@Nembo_Kid
Iâd be interested in whether you think either mayo or kerry will have a realistic chance against the winners of the other semi final?
Wouldnât doubt it.
Class act. He was a bit ratty though