Cillian O'Connor wins Golden Boot Race

[The Trap]

I predict egg on our face 6th Sam......I would love to see you right though and for Mayo to finally win.

[The Trap]

I predict egg on your face 6th Sam......I think Dean Rock is better........hope you are right and Mayo finally win but I just cant see it.

[restorepride]

Taking what too far? I think I've made some very fair points on O'Connor, others have disagreed but I haven't see anything to change my mind. I do think O'Connor is very overrated and its lazy analysis to point to his scoring records alone, I think any decent forward would have the same scoring records as O'Connor if they played in that team and were entrusted with the same duties and faith that he's had there.

You're absolutely taking it too far but that's nothing new with you. I still don't know why/how he's overrated or a weak link on the team. What national pundits proclaim Cillian as one of the top forwards in the country? The old cliché of mayo having no forwards has persisted right throughout his career. There's 14 pages on this thread of people pointing out everything he can't do.

The fact he scored a hat trick against Limerick is used as a stick to beat him with. Apparently that's just padding his stats but ignores the fact he has scored 2-5 vs Kerry, 1-8 vs Dublin and 1-9 vs Dublin. But all the Armagh forwards are better than him because they looked good in qualifiers or Ulster championship games which they generally lost.

You ask who is proclaiming him as a top forward? That's been the entire theme of the thread. One of your comrades is claiming they'd take him over Michael Murphy and Conor McManus. You then spend paragraphs trying to defend him as if he were a top forward.

The 3 scores you mentioned there? Kerry score had 1-3 out of the 2-5 from placed balls in 100 mins, with the other goal being a tap in. The middle score doesnt exist. The last 1-9 mentioned v Dublin was all from placed balls. If you're trying to argue that he's a good freetaker (inside 35) or penalty taker, noone is arguing with you there

Surely for somebody to be overrated there must be national pundits praising him constantly? Not a couple of posters on gaaboard. I consider him a top forward but that's my opinion of course. The main reason I posted all that previously was to debunk Angelo's theories of him being a weak link on the team.

He also won that penalty vs Kerry. Mea culpa, it was only 1-6 he got in that other game vs Dublin.

National pundits do talk him up, somebody posted up David Brady calling him Mayo's greatest players. He's regularly talked of as a top forward, for me he's the weak link in that Mayo forward line and it's guys like Doherty, Diarmuid O'Connor and McLoughlin who are criminally underrated.

O'Connor is the guy I see on that Mayo team and the one I look at and say they need more from. He can finish but they could do with him winning more ball, creating his own chances, making space for others with his movement. The top players can do all of that as well as finish and that is why he's not a top forward.

Shows you how much some people know about football.   Even less knowledge about top forwards.  Mór mo bhrón!

[Angelo]

Taking what too far? I think I've made some very fair points on O'Connor, others have disagreed but I haven't see anything to change my mind. I do think O'Connor is very overrated and its lazy analysis to point to his scoring records alone, I think any decent forward would have the same scoring records as O'Connor if they played in that team and were entrusted with the same duties and faith that he's had there.

You're absolutely taking it too far but that's nothing new with you. I still don't know why/how he's overrated or a weak link on the team. What national pundits proclaim Cillian as one of the top forwards in the country? The old cliché of mayo having no forwards has persisted right throughout his career. There's 14 pages on this thread of people pointing out everything he can't do.

The fact he scored a hat trick against Limerick is used as a stick to beat him with. Apparently that's just padding his stats but ignores the fact he has scored 2-5 vs Kerry, 1-8 vs Dublin and 1-9 vs Dublin. But all the Armagh forwards are better than him because they looked good in qualifiers or Ulster championship games which they generally lost.

You ask who is proclaiming him as a top forward? That's been the entire theme of the thread. One of your comrades is claiming they'd take him over Michael Murphy and Conor McManus. You then spend paragraphs trying to defend him as if he were a top forward.

The 3 scores you mentioned there? Kerry score had 1-3 out of the 2-5 from placed balls in 100 mins, with the other goal being a tap in. The middle score doesnt exist. The last 1-9 mentioned v Dublin was all from placed balls. If you're trying to argue that he's a good freetaker (inside 35) or penalty taker, noone is arguing with you there

Surely for somebody to be overrated there must be national pundits praising him constantly? Not a couple of posters on gaaboard. I consider him a top forward but that's my opinion of course. The main reason I posted all that previously was to debunk Angelo's theories of him being a weak link on the team.

He also won that penalty vs Kerry. Mea culpa, it was only 1-6 he got in that other game vs Dublin.

National pundits do talk him up, somebody posted up David Brady calling him Mayo's greatest players. He's regularly talked of as a top forward, for me he's the weak link in that Mayo forward line and it's guys like Doherty, Diarmuid O'Connor and McLoughlin who are criminally underrated.

O'Connor is the guy I see on that Mayo team and the one I look at and say they need more from. He can finish but they could do with him winning more ball, creating his own chances, making space for others with his movement. The top players can do all of that as well as finish and that is why he's not a top forward.

Shows you how much some people know about football.   Even less knowledge about top forwards.  Mór mo bhrón!

We've been here before when O'Connor has scored a hateful against the likes of Limerick and London in blitzreig team performances by Mayo.

He got one good goal. The rest were all laid on a plate for him.

The proof will be in the pudding in the final. I'm not surprised to see a clown like you lose his shit over a performance against Tipp.

[rosnarun]

And of course a hatful against Reigning all Ireland Champions Donegal
Hes the best forward in the Game Bar none
being a great forward is about Scoring not about being flash and Cillain has score more than anyone ever ,
dean rock is a fantastic player but has not score nearly as much in a bigger weaker province

[Rossfan]

And Cillian refs a lot of games as well.

[Angelo]

And of course a hatful against Reigning all Ireland Champions Donegal
Hes the best forward in the Game Bar none
being a great forward is about Scoring not about being flash and Cillain has score more than anyone ever ,
dean rock is a fantastic player but has not score nearly as much in a bigger weaker province

Donegal was another blitzreig performance from Mayo.

If you look at the goals against Tipp, there were Mayo players queuing to put the ball in the net. It's what Mayo do so well when they are at full pelt, they overwhelm you with runners through the middle. O'Connor is a great finisher and when his team utterly dominate an inferior opponent as they did on Sunday, he will score heavily.

But in tighter more cagier affairs where his marker is actually able to mark him rather than having to vacate his duty to confront one of the many Mayo players coming steaming through then he struggles, quite badly in fact.

I'd have the boy Conroy ahead of O'Connor. You look at the frees Conroy wins, you look at the points he gets, the goal he set up. He can win the ball, he can take players on and beat them and he can take his scores. O'Connor is a finisher so in the big games, it really relies on his team creating the chances for him. Conroy is able to engineer his own chances and in a tight affair like the Galway game a few weeks back it was Conroy who showed up more.

[reillycavan]

And Cillian refs a lot of games as well.

Nonsense.  No need to be so bitter. What county are you from?

[thewobbler]

I'd have the boy Conroy ahead of O'Connor

Of course you would.

Why you would do this though, has absolutely nothing to with assessing their football abilities.

I suspect you always walk up the down escalator just to to amuse yourself.

[Angelo]

I'd have the boy Conroy ahead of O'Connor

Of course you would.

Why you would do this though, has absolutely nothing to with assessing their football abilities.

I suspect you always walk up the down escalator just to to amuse yourself.

Everything to do with his football abilities. O'Connor is great man to take the plaudits for great team performances but in the tight cagey affairs he goes missing, he does it time and time again.

I've outlined my reasons why, Conroy is the type of player who can win his own ball, take players on and beat them, who can create scores and take them.

O'Connor is an excellent finisher but he can't do that.

My only reasons are footballing ones, your issue seem to be your inability to understand the game. You look at the scorers and make your mind up but your actual footballing IQ is non-existent.

[Mayo4Sam]

COC V Dublin, all tight games
2012 - 0-7
2013 - 0-8
2015 - 1-9
2015 - 1-6
2016 - 0-7 (Including the kick on the buzzer to draw)
2016 - 0-9
2017 - 0-7
2019 - 0-3

This narrative that Cillian only does it against Sligo and Leitrim is a joke, that's close to an 8 point average, by Sunday he'll have played 15% of his games against Dublin.
Even I'm surprised to see that his average score versus Dublin (7.75) is higher than his championship scoring average versus the remaining counties (7.12)

[WhoDat]

i refuse to believe that anyone who thinks o'connor "goes missing" in big games has ever actually watched him in a big game.

[Angelo]

COC V Dublin, all tight games
2012 - 0-7
2013 - 0-8
2015 - 1-9
2015 - 1-6
2016 - 0-7 (Including the kick on the buzzer to draw)
2016 - 0-9
2017 - 0-7
2019 - 0-3

This narrative that Cillian only does it against Sligo and Leitrim is a joke, that's close to an 8 point average, by Sunday he'll have played 15% of his games against Dublin.
Even I'm surprised to see that his average score versus Dublin (7.75) is higher than his championship scoring average versus the remaining counties (7.12)

Can you remove the tap over frees the real stars of that Mayo team generate from those stats?

He's a good finisher but if the likes of Durcan, his brother, Keegan etc aren't getting their running game going then O'Connor is virtually non-existent.

Everything hinges on Mayo getting men over and that frees up the full back line having to leave their man and meet on of these runners.

O'Connor would never be able to do what a real marquee forward like McManus would when he's double and treble marked and his team are still trying to find him.

We'll see against Dublin this weekend as it's the usual hyperbole on the back of a heavy scoring O'Connor performance when for me it was really about Mayo's blitzreig running game tearing Tipp to shreds.

[thewobbler]

Can you point us in the direction of the game(s) in which McManus was treble marked please Angelo?

I'm just thinking that some facts might be useful in the case that you're bringing forward.

[Angelo]

Can you point us in the direction of the game(s) in which McManus was treble marked please Angelo?

I'm just thinking that some facts might be useful in the case that you're bringing forward.

Routinely he's been a one man full forward line for quite a chunk of the past decade for Monaghan. Just look at some of the scores he gets, three or four people all around him and he has to deal with him and send over points from impossible angles.

Nobody is disputing that O'Connor can finish but I think whoever is playing in the Mayo full forward line and taking frees will score heavily, that's a given with the type of game Mayo play.

When teams are as naive as Tipp were and Mayo have their foot on the gas then players will be queuing up to score. It was a different story in the Connacht final against Galway.

Like I said earlier, I'd have Conroy over him as I believe Conroy is much better at winning his own ball, can take players on and get scores or draw those tap over frees. O'Connor is a finisher but Conroy seems to have such a good all round game.