Messages

can ye read lads!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i'm trying to say it will take a few years for o'shea to develop the awareness donaghy has to be able to link others into the play. FFS will ye read the posts properly and don't be so quick to criticise. I'm not saying drop O'shea.

Thats why i think he is better served at 11 for now until he develops that tactical awareness for 14...
i was also pointing out that our management and not  O'Shea are to blame for a lack of a game plan with his position. Conor Mort stood too near him against Cork and morts man was able to double up on O'Shea knowing he was going to try and barrel his way through. Thats where the majority of balls were lost for Mayo.
Mort should be away from O'shea and then run onto a possible lay-off.
If we are trying a big man full-forward why don't we copy the best exponents of that (donaghy). Makes sense. If we are to leave him there for Summer i'd tell him to watch every clip of Donaghy he can get hold of. I'd also tell the no. 5 and no. 7 to deliver the ball into him diagonally. Tomas o'Se plays the best ball into Donaghy. He floats it from right to left. Usually you have Dec O'sullivan running on to it at speed. When they do it right it's poetry in motion.
Thing with Aidan O'shea also is he is young and young players like getting their names on the scoreboard. I think that is hinderiing him a bit. He prob feels like he is being judged on the scores but in reality he should be our focal point who assists more so. Again that comes with experience

Try and find a stronger 19 year old in the country and I'll buy you a pint.

He's strong alright but it's not all muscle! He's a natural big frame. I'd be telling him to lay off the weights and the carbs and forget about Australia. He's slowed down a bit since his minor days. He was an awesome athlete then.

[Has strength, height, a football brain, awareness]

Foreverhopeful I agree with you that AOS' best position is centre-half forward. But your arguments about why he shouldn't be full-forward are so far off the mark and reactionary and impulsive. He has an awful lot to offer on the edge of the square. Has strength, height, a football brain, awareness. In the league final the ball died with him a lot but was there ever options for a pass? No. He was double teamed too. To argue he lacks strength is the daftest thing I've read in a long time. Try and find a stronger 19 year old in the country and I'll buy you a pint. Centre-half forward was always his best position though. Its just a case of Mayo and John O'Mahony deciding where they can put him to most benefit. Don't be surprised if its at 11.

Just a general point - following on from Muppet's observations - why do we always, always, always insist on trying to take our players down to size? Why must we always feel that we need to 'bring them down a peg or two'. The abuse I've seen Seamus and Aidan O'Shea get this year playing club football purely because they are 'county men' is nothing short of shocking. Some of the comments about Aidan O'Shea on here are plain offensive. And people wonder why we are where we are.

I don't know does he have the awareness for 14 yet. You watch Donaghy and compare him to O'Shea. If we want to be the best we have to play like the best. Donaghy was brilliant at flicking down to a player or catching when he could. He know's when it's best to flick it down because he''s watching where the men are running. I have yet to see A O'Shea do that. I'm not trying to put him down. That will come in a couple of years. It could be coached into him but it's obvioulsy not. You watch the way Kerry put the ball into Donaghy, its always diagonally so the full back isn't meeting it head on and has to decide whether to wait down and meet the man or contest and risk being the wrong side on landing.
Watch a replay of goal against Heaney and against Bellew and you'll see.

I know this is only trivial but was looking at the fantasy signings in the championship preview in the paper last week. Alan Brogan was named as our fantasy signing based on the fact that we need someone who can put the ball over the bar from outside 30 yards. Not too sure if he was the best example because i happen to think he isn't a prolific marksmen. I am torn between Donaghy, Cooper and Declan O'Sullivan! Donaghy brings a wow factor to the game with his fielding and his lay-offs, Cooper for his sheer talent and guaranteed 5-6 points a game and O'Sullivan for his leadership, running ability and distribution. I'll go with Donaghy!

What do other posters think... I know you could name anyone but sure its only a bit of craic. (No bad-mouthing any Mayo players!!!)

i suppose the only positive would be that it's at this time of the year and he'll have time to recover (Fingers crossed). No doubt we were starting to see the finished product of Aidan Kilcoyne last year.

D Clarke                     K O'Malley                R Hennelly
T Howley                   L O'Malley                S Drake/ J Keane
A Feeney                   G Cafferkey              K keane
C Barrett                    K Higgins                 D Geraghty
P gardiner                  D Vaughan               A Higgins
K Conroy                   T Cunniffe                D Kilcullen                   
K McLoughlin              S Nally                     J Burke
R McGarrity                 S O'Shea                 J Kilcullen
T Parsons                   P Harte                   B Kelly
A Moran                     T Mortimer              C Freeman               
B J Padden                 A Freeman              D Tiernan                   
N Douglas                  A Dillon                    P Doherty
C Mortimer                 E Varley                   B Benson
B Moran                    A O'Shea                  C McDonald       
A Kilcoyne                  M Ronaldson             B Regan/M Conroy 

A v B v C match...... Don't think the C team would be too bad!       

Those players were all exceptional at bringing others into play. Thats why they were so good at 14. Donaghy has the burst and he has an amazing catch. Michael Murphy is just a naturally gifted forward. They all get away without pace because they have other outstanding attributes. Aidan O'Shea isn't a natural footballer. He doesnt have the intelligence to bring other players into the game yet. And i'm not so sure about his so-called strength. Think there is a fair bit of puppy fat going on. I've yet to see him really get a full-back out of the way yet with his stength.

Foreverpessimistic I think you should think a bit more about your posts.

AOS is as natural a forward as I've seen at minor in a good while, especially from a Mayo point of view. He is well ahead of contemporary Kyle Coney who is another fantastic talent that will come through in time. He certainly needs to learn to vary his game as was well put by Never Beat The Deeler. But remember his age before you consign him to the massive Mayo scrap heap that at various stages has included such dross as Ciaran McDonald, Liam McHale and Willie Joe Padden.

Those three and many more came back to prove the Mayo doubters wrong. AOS hasn't even failed yet and people are adding him to the heap. Give him a chance ffs.

i'm saying to put him at no.11.. Read my posts... Think he can do more damage for us at 11. Could see playing 14 in 3-4 years when he gets more experience and can bring others into the game... Muppet by name .....!

[see Eoin Liston, Tommy Dowd, Jimmy Keavney etc]

If Aidan o Shea is too slow for no.11 he is too slow to ever do any real damage at no.14. You need a burst of pace at no.14. What scoring damage did he do last year (someone mentioned this)? Fisted goal against Meath, one point against Galway. 1 goal against Ros  on a day when we got 3-18. That not hectic.
He has a very accurate kick from long distance, is an option for kick out's. He can have more space to get his stride going. HE can be fast if he gets into his stride and would be hard stopped. He doesnt have cuteness to play in the full-forward line (yet- comes with age)!. I'd also give the freedom every now and then to drift into the full forward line when playing at 11. This would keep the number 6 guessing and he may sneak in the odd time for goal. Sean Cavanagh was a master of this in his earlier days. The tyrone boys would cover him as he drifted in for scores and was usually unmarked. It obviously has to be done with subtlety.

No point in playing Seamie O'Shea as an 11. He is the partner McGarrity has needed for the last few years. Seamie will do the grafting, hard hitting. McGarrity and Parsons were too similar.

Burst of pace at 14??In fairness that's utter rubbish, 11 is where you need a "burst of pace" not 14. Traditionally (see Eoin Liston, Tommy Dowd, Jimmy Keavney etc) 14 is where the bigger,slower players play because pace isn't really an issue.Donaghy doesn't have any great pace but is a brilliant no. 14, Michael Murphy isn't particularly fast and is excellent at fullforward. If there is any position on the field that you can get away with being lacking in a bit of pace it's Full Forward. A O'Shea isn't particularly fast but can use his strength very well to get a bit of space to get a shot away and because he's not further out the field he can cause more damage closer in. Can't believe I've just had to explain that!

Those players were all exceptional at bringing others into play. Thats why they were so good at 14. Donaghy has the burst and he has an amazing catch. Michael Murphy is just a naturally gifted forward. They all get away without pace because they have other outstanding attributes. Aidan O'Shea isn't a natural footballer. He doesnt have the intelligence to bring other players into the game yet. And i'm not so sure about his so-called strength. Think there is a fair bit of puppy fat going on. I've yet to see him really get a full-back out of the way yet with his stength.

If aidan o shea is too slow for no.11 he is too slow to ever do any real damage at no.14. You need a burst of pace at no.14. What scoring damage did he do last year (someone mentioned this)? Fisted goal against Meath, one point against Galway. 1 goal against Ros  on a day when we got 3-18. That not hectic.
He has a very accurate kick from long distance, is an option for kick out's. He can have more space to get his stride going. HE can be fast if he gets into his stride and would be hard stopped. He doesnt have cuteness to play in the full-forward line (yet- comes with age)!. I'd also give the freedom every now and then to drift into the full forward line when playing at 11. This would keep the number 6 guessing and he may sneak in the odd time for goal. Sean Cavanagh was a master of this in his earlier days. The tyrone boys would cover him as he drifted in for scores and was usually unmarked. It obviously has to be done with subtlety.

No point in playing Seamie O'Shea as an 11. He is the partner McGarrity has needed for the last few years. Seamie will do the grafting, hard hitting. McGarrity and Parsons were too similar.

okay so would you leave howley, parsons, dillon in their positions?
Aidan O'shea would have more room to get some speed up at no.11. He'd be hard stopped at full flight. At full forward you need a sharp burst and Aidan doesnt have that.He also doesn't have that craft for 14  to bring other players into the game.
Parsons has to go, he is not up to when the going gets tough. Bench him or else try him at 11 where he'd be out of the hard-hitting stuff.
Alan Dillon is not an 11, FFS. Can you not see that we are losing his input of scores from play? He takes too much out of it and can't take on his man in the middle (extra traffic/too small). At no.12 he can take on his man and he gets 2-4 points from play. He is one of the top no. 12's in the game but he wouldn't figure in anyone's list as an 11.

I see the point about Mcloughlin being a better 7 than Moran. However i think Moran gives more to Mayo as a 7 than as a 10 and i do think he deserves to be on the team. He is more confident, gets good ball into the forwards and is a leader back there. It's not a case of him versus Mcloughlin, more of where can we get the best out particular players. I think Mcloughlin has more guile and skill to play as a 10. I think if he was their he could be our playmaker.

We all saw that Howley wasn't a Center back in the league. That was obvious. Just a pity JOM left him there until he was roasted. Not fair on him cos he is a good footballer. I think we will see him at 4 for the Summer with Keith at 2 (hope Chris Barrett is accommodated because he is a talented footballer) It also takes the pressure off Ger Caf having them two there. Half back line is anyone's guess. Choose from Gardiner, Vaughan, Mcloughlin, Barrett, Nally, Howley, A Moran, T Mortimer, BJ Padden, L O'Malley (his natural place!), K Conroy.

The best I have seen him play was against Kerry in 2004 at CF but that was 6 years ago and I havnt seen him play that well since

Billy Joe didnt start in 04... He played wing-forward in 06. 

He is an outstanding club player

I disagree, he is average enough IMO

He has carried that belmullet team. He quite simply has been brilliant for them.

Why when we have quality corner forwards: Conor Mort, Killer, Varley, Ronaldson (and freeman, douglas) would be play the two boys (B Moran and A O'Shea) in the ff line. We need some height in the half-forward line.

Why would you move Seamus from CF? Surely the best football Mayo have played is with SOS at 11 and McGarity and Parsons at midfeild, giving us three options for kickouts? And also letting Dillon play 12.
If you move AOS to 11, where are you putting SOS? To midfield? at the expense of Parsons or McGarity?

I would play Seamie O'Shea with Ronan. Parsons needs a a little reminder and the bench will do that for him. He has to toughen up.

I wouldnt change things when they are not necessarily broken. Kevin McGloughlin seems to be playing brilliant stuff from wing back so why would you change that? Im suggesting that Kevin McGloughlin is a better wing back than Andy Moran. And that Andy Moran is a better wing forward than Kevin McGloughlin.

Do you not agree with Andy Moran at 7 after him receiving an All-Star nomination there last year in his only good championship campaign for Mayo. Kevin Mcloughlin was outstanding in the league final as an attacking source primarily. I def could have seen him get 3-4 points if attacking from no.10 that day as he was on a better side for shooting with his left foot. He can also pass the ball well. I'm not saying he should be first choice there as there is strong competition there already but i do think he is better back there ( he was a leader for us in this position).

Cheers for replying AbbeySider. Obvious you have totally different views than me but sure thats for discussion!!!

i would never put trev at 11. No way. If i was looking at panel i would say that Aidan O'Shea would be best suited. Was very good there for minors. Billy Joe ticks a lot of the boxes for the position but i don't know if he is good enough. Does it at club but not sure about county. Maybe??? If given a long run but sure he wont get that. Don't think Harte is a playmaker either. Ronaldson would be good if he was over 6ft.

to say there was so many things wrong with my original post that you couldnt even begin to disagree... Suggest something or comment ....not that reply you gave.
There was no player bashing involved. You CAN comment on the mayo team with honest opinions without getting involved with bashing players.

go on have a go abbeysider, you know nothing about football if you disagree with so much...
...
So how is that suggestion stupid??? Some clowns in Mayo if they don't see that.

As a matter of interest, what age are you?

what difference does that make... If you can't see any reason behind them moves (which i haven't said should be definite) than i would have to wonder about your football intellect. You haven't suggested anything yet you are putting me down. Extremely disrepectful..

Look back on my posts. I was the one harping on about getting Seamie O'Shea in the team last year. I was constantly derided for it. Some of the posters on this site are so backward and it is clear they never played football.

go on have a go abbeysider, you know nothing about football if you disagree with so much...Suppose you'd leave aidan O'shea at 14? Doesnt bring any other players into the game. Plays much better at no.11

I never said Billy Joe for def, i never said Andy Moran for 7 for def. But it amazes me how he can receive an All-Star nomination in a position and then be totally disregarded for that position then on. Everyone will agree that it was andy's best championship season. He always does well in league and fades but not last year. So how is that suggestion stupid??? Some clowns in Mayo if they don't see that.