All-Ireland Final, September 18th, 2016 - Dublin v Mayo

[Jinxy]

Nearly every time either O'Shea got the ball in the 2nd half I was out of my chair roaring at the telly in frustration.
Seamie's willingness to hand hard-won possession back to the Dubs nearly lost Mayo the game.
As usual, when Aidan gets the ball the first thing he looks for is contact, not the simple lay-off to a runner.
Honestly, Mayo would have been better off without either of them today.

[square_ball]

Where do you play Aidan O'Shea to get the best out of him? Seems to be no manager has come up with a solution. Brolly was right in what he said at the end that AOS had it in his hands to be the man to drag Mayo over the line in the last 10mins and just didn't grasp it the chance.

[GJL]

Where do you play Aidan O'Shea to get the best out of him? Seems to be no manager has come up with a solution. Brolly was right in what he said at the end that AOS had it in his hands to be the man to drag Mayo over the line in the last 10mins and just didn't grasp it the chance.

Best I have seen of him is FF but Mayo maybe need him out field.

[BennyHarp]

At half time I decided to accept that this was an utterly ridiculous match where quality and common sense was in short supply and just enjoy the occasion.  As such, I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the second half. We get too bogged down by quality etc and forget that we have one of the worlds great spectacles when two teams go hammer and tongs at each other. It was edge of the seat stuff with mistakes aplenty but also masses of heart and fight. My respect for this mayo team has grown immensely this season and to overcome the ridiculousness of two own goals and pull that game around is very commendable indeed. I can't wait for the replay!

[JoG2]

Where do you play Aidan O'Shea to get the best out of him? Seems to be no manager has come up with a solution. Brolly was right in what he said at the end that AOS had it in his hands to be the man to drag Mayo over the line in the last 10mins and just didn't grasp it the chance.

Personally I would keep him on the edge of the square.. He won enough ball going in the first half but no one to offload too.  Had the conditions not been so poor he could have made a good charge at the goals.  Today was definitely not the day to be carrying the ball into contact.. Both teams were at it hence the extremely high number of turnovers.

[Jinxy]

Again, like last year, the weather had a massive negative effect on the standard of play.
When the ball is like a bar of soap and you are struggling to keep your feet you're going to focus on retaining possession and keeping it simple.
During one passage of play in the 1st half, Diarmuid Connolly (who's probably one of the best balanced footballers around) fell on his arse 3 times before he picked the ball up.
If it's a dry day for the replay it'll be light years ahead in terms of quality.

[JoG2]

Where do you play Aidan O'Shea to get the best out of him? Seems to be no manager has come up with a solution. Brolly was right in what he said at the end that AOS had it in his hands to be the man to drag Mayo over the line in the last 10mins and just didn't grasp it the chance.

Best I have seen of him is FF but Mayo maybe need him out field.

He absolutely cleaned a powerful Donegal midfield out of it a few years back,  definitely his best match at CP.  It's the fact that Mayo are just that bit light up front and O'Shea is capable of playing well in both those areas of the pitch.  Up front he'll take two Dublin forwards with him,  leaving space for AM.  Moran was v good again today,  rarely loses possession and usually gives the correct pass

[lenny]

At half time I decided to accept that this was an utterly ridiculous match where quality and common sense was in short supply and just enjoy the occasion.  As such, I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the second half. We get too bogged down by quality etc and forget that we have one of the worlds great spectacles when two teams go hammer and tongs at each other. It was edge of the seat stuff with mistakes aplenty but also masses of heart and fight. My respect for this mayo team has grown immensely this season and to overcome the ridiculousness of two own goals and pull that game around is very commendable indeed. I can't wait for the replay!

Correct. It was thoroughly enjoyable and very exciting. There were plenty of mistakes but the vast majority were forced errors through good physical tackling. The ref let both sides away with a lot. The black card was ridiculous but Andrews coming on really helped them at least initially.

[lenny]

Where do you play Aidan O'Shea to get the best out of him? Seems to be no manager has come up with a solution. Brolly was right in what he said at the end that AOS had it in his hands to be the man to drag Mayo over the line in the last 10mins and just didn't grasp it the chance.

The first 3 or 4 long balls into him he was completely mauled and didn't get a free. The next ball comes in he gives cooper a slight nudge and it's immediately a free out. He simply doesn't get the frees he deserves because of his size which isn't fair.

[Il Bomber Destro]

O'Connor is most certainly a coward. As mentioned previously, he's a bad f**ker for sneaky hits off the ball. While he was hit a nasty wraparound by McAuley, it a only came after he tried to throw the shoulder in. He's a nasty little bollocks.

He led with his shoulder into lads from the front multiple times today. One thing Mayo get away with consistently is the complete inability or refusal to try and tackle the ball in the opposition's half. The amount of fouls the likes of the O'Sheas, O'Connors, Doherty and McLoughlin get away with is criminal. They just tot them up all game long without the referees doing anything about it.

I don't like O'Connor, good score at the end and showed guts to take it but he was fairly poor overall as he tends to be. He is always up at the referee yapping and trying to exaggerate things to get players sent off. He actually was pulling at the referee's arms and shoulders after Regan's dirty hit on McMahon late on.

Mayo should have won that, dominated the game from start to finish and had some real unfortunate things go against them but you simply must be winning those type of games when they are presented. Felt they may have missed their chance but they have shown once again they have the measure of Dublin if they can only get their heads right then it is there for them. Hard to see Dublin being as bad again the next day though.

[Wildweasel74]

Point is alot of the decisions were not blurred, MacAuley trip a def Black not anything else, same as Connolly and O`Connor take downs, its not open to interpretation, apply the rules as it pisses the life out of em teams get nailed all year with the rules up to the last 8 then the rules somehow change all of a sudden

[redzone]

Gut wrenching watching Mayo today knowing that it should have been us out there today. Pity as Sam would have been heading north tomorrow

[Jinxy]

In real time, I thought the MacAuley incident was a hand-trip and a definite black card.
The replay however would suggest that contact was up around the thigh/hip and not the lower leg/ankle so therefore not a trip for me.

[Wildweasel74]

kilkenny and Flynn need to stay up , good going forwards but aint cutting it going back, they mark space nothing more

[lenny]

O'Connor is most certainly a coward. As mentioned previously, he's a bad f**ker for sneaky hits off the ball. While he was hit a nasty wraparound by McAuley, it a only came after he tried to throw the shoulder in. He's a nasty little bollocks.

He led with his shoulder into lads from the front multiple times today. One thing Mayo get away with consistently is the complete inability or refusal to try and tackle the ball in the opposition's half. The amount of fouls the likes of the O'Sheas, O'Connors, Doherty and McLoughlin get away with is criminal. They just tot them up all game long without the referees doing anything about it.

I don't like O'Connor, good score at the end and showed guts to take it but he was fairly poor overall as he tends to be. He is always up at the referee yapping and trying to exaggerate things to get players sent off. He actually was pulling at the referee's arms and shoulders after Regan's dirty hit on McMahon late on.

Mayo should have won that, dominated the game from start to finish and had some real unfortunate things go against them but you simply must be winning those type of games when they are presented. Felt they may have missed their chance but they have shown once again they have the measure of Dublin if they can only get their heads right then it is there for them. Hard to see Dublin being as bad again the next day though.

Dublin certainly won't be as bad but Mayo have room for improvement also. They have improved steadily as the season has gone on. They were extremely average against Fermanagh and Tyrone, improved slightly v Tipp and took it up another level today. They made a lot of the Dublin players look ordinary. It was not a day for forwards though as seen in the minor game also. Kerry minors had scored 25+ times in each of their last 2 games but really struggled to get scores in the conditions today.