Thatâs what happens when you donât have 14 other quality players.
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Would OâShea start for Dublin? Iâm not sure he would
The hurling is an interesting counter-point to the Ewan argument. Same population/funding advantages. Youâd expect at least a 3 in a row at this stage âŚ
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If Paddy Small can start for them OâShea is more than good enough. But Dublin probably wouldnât pick him because he would clash with their ideology on the game, the focus on pace and ability to run at pace for 80 minutes. He flags after half time. Itâs not a coincidence that Mayo have been the better team in the first half of so many matches against Dublin over the last decade. OâShea can go for 35 minutes but then he canât keep up. Today fitted that pattern again.
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He hasnât the workrate without the ball to be in Dublin team âŚsomething dubs donât get credit for âŚthey never stop.
They went from a joke to winning Leinster, a league, multiple underage Leinster titles. Unless you think money doesnât bring improvement? If so, why did Dublin go asking for it?
Yeah I think Dublin could use him.A lot of the prime Mayo lads like Keegan Higgins Boyle and Moran could have started for Dublin possibly Vaughn.Paddy Durkan could definitely start for them.
Hurling is pulling from a much smaller pool
These goals are almost a clichĂŠ at this stage. Theyâre like goals designed by a perfectly rational Japanese management system or something. Just In Time goals. Theyâre those goals peak Manchester City would score where De Bruyne or somebody would put it on a plate for Sterling or Aguero at the back post, except uglier. You get three points for a goal whichever way you score it. But the difference in emotion between Lee Keegan appearing out of nowhere to crash a shot to the net and and Rock or McAuley slapping one in from three yards at the back post is night and day.
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OâShea hugely over rated here. I really donât see what he brings to mayo. Heâs like an Eamon fennel and Jim cut that out quick smart. Dave Moran at least has the passing and scoring skills. OâShea still living off the goal he got against donegal in a quarter 4 or 5 years ago. Someone showed me a stat before game and o Shea has scored 5 points in 14 semi final and final appearances in croke park. Awful. And hasnât dominated games either. Gavin ran him and the brother all over croke park in 2013 and they were gassed. Mayo have some nice new players but their leaders now are Barrett, durcan, coen and not fucking OâShea
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I read the start of that post and was thinking âwhat about that goal where he put Neil Magee on his arseâ and realised that was part of your point.
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Made the same point earlier but he doesnât even take shots anymore let alone score. He used to score a decent amount in his younger days
Horan has really cleared out a clatter of the older players. Think I only saw Higgins and Parsons left on the bench today. And they didnât even get on. No Boyle, Vaughan, etc. Not sure if Boyle is still carrying an injury? Youâd wonder whatâs left in McLoughlin, Barrett, Keegan, etc. Although I thought Keegan was a bit livelier today until the frontal shoulder. Heâs clearly not the player of old though. With such a short turnaround until the next championship I imagine most will stay on though.
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Dont have any particular appetite in a huge debate over it, but there are numerous things to factor in.
Firstly, Dublins hurling history has been mainly based on culchies going all the way back since hurling began in the city. Football was more a true Dub game. Hurling never really took off, and this goes to the heritage or history etc that you cant buy, the likes of Kerry in football, Kilkenny in hurling etc.
Dublins rise from where they were is massive. Despite football being hugely more popular in the city and pretty much every dual player picking football, even though they may only be squad players, says a lot. So they play second fiddle to football, yet still improved hugely from their starting base.
Then you go to the club game. Dublin won one Leinster club title in 1979, when Crumlin beat Camross. 2 Dublin club teams lost Leinster finals in 89 and 97. Then UCD lost 3 club finals. After this, was the turning point. Ballyboden lost in 08. Cuala lost one before not only winning two Leinsters, but won two All Irelands, Dublins first club All Ireland club titles. Whats lost in all the funding shite is the funding went to clubs. Cuala, as an example, offer scholarships to college for players in conjunction with Amgen. Thats not part of the funding, but having paid coaches in a huge catchement area has made a huge difference. The end result is the final county level output. Interestingly, Cualas GDA is from Carlow. Carlow are not one of the counties currently being offered to have this role for clubs by Leinster council.
On top of the coaching development that was brought into Dublin GAA, they also got âŹ1m per year for 5 years specifically for hurling development over and above the coaching structure expenditure. And whilst all this happened, the GAA sat by and watched previous competitive Leinster counties completely fall by the wayside. Wexford have since managed to crawl back up through very good internal investment in coaching, but Offaly have been completely obliterated.
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Mayo also got a way better than expected kick out return from Clarke today and it still didnât matter in the end. His kicking didnât combust like it often does under pressure.
They won 18 kick outs to 5 in the first half.
But the goals killed them.
Boyle, Vaughan and SOS are on the panel and injury free, just didnât make the 26.