Is Cillian O'Connor Mayo's greatest ever?

[Soup an Samajiz]

Cillian O'Connor's head is so generic looking its weird. He could be the default player profile on Fifa

[Jinxy]

He has an odd kicking style from the hand which means he needs more space than most inside forwards to shoot.
See that point Berno got towards the end of the game off his left?
Cillian would never have got that shot off.
He leans too much when he kicks.

[StephenC]

He has an odd kicking style from the hand which means he needs more space than most inside forwards to shoot.
See that point Berno got towards the end of the game off his left?
Cillian would never have got that shot off.
He leans too much when he kicks.

Very interesting Jinxy. Do you think this is down to not being coached the right mechanics when young? I'm always fascinated by the vastly different kicking/soloing styles that you see between players.

[nrico2006]

I'd have him on my team anytime - dead eyed today from the placed ball and when nothing is going right up front (which for 55 mins was the case for Mayo) having someone that calm and reliable over frees is invaluable. If Dublin's freetakers had been on form we'd be in a final.

Cannot get over the amount of slagging of players and posters happening all across the board - most of it based on the premise that if Tyrone got slagged then Dublin/Mayo must be slagged as well. Seriously wondering why i even bother logging in.

Great credit due to Mayo for the comeback, but a lot of things went wrong for Dublin today - discipline was bad, losing ROC so early was a huge blow, and to be honest, I've no excuses to make for Connolly anymore - his temperament willl never change and will always be exploited by other teams.

All that said, I think Dublin have the bigger capacity to improve, whilst Mayo played to the limit of their abilities, certainly upfront. they are short class forwards, whilst we are not, so if we even get a 10% improvement out the field we should be able to win the replay.

BTW posting this here as I don't want to get in the maelstorm of shitetalk happening on the match thread. Well done to Mayo, incredible comeback, seconds out for next week.

Good post. I was looking forward to a proper discussion here but got sucked into the fantasies of a couple of fools above.

I would disagree on the capacity to improve though. That was our worst performance in years. Surely we can play for more than 7 minutes the next day? Our unheralded subs did pretty well as well, especially Patrick Durkan.

He's not helped by the hyperbole some people attach to him, if he's one of the best forwards in the game then you'd be expecting him to be putting in big performances fitting of one. I know he is young but too often he has been really poor from open play. Great free taker though but I wouldn't have him in the top 10 forwards around.

On the basis of today and your analysis, we wouldn't have Bernard Brogan, Diarmuid Connelly, Paul Flynn or Aiden O'Se as being in the top 10 either. Come to think of it, Gooch and O'Donoghue where quiet enough last week too, as was Cavannagh. So, does this mean none of the country's top 10 forwards are in the top 4 teams? O'Connor kicked 1-9 today, pressure was on and he responded, had he been in a Tyrone jersey last week, we might just be sitting in an AI final.

Flynn and O'Se would'nt be in the top 10 forwards about no matter what.  I think a lot of people don't give Bernard Brogan the credit he deserves, he has an unbelievable conversion rate and can score every type of score there is.  If COC was on the Tyrone team he would just add to the problem Tyrone currently have which is the main reason they aren't in an All Ireland final - because they have too many forwards who don't offer enough from play. 

[AZOffaly]

Paul Flynn and Aidan O'Sé are not in the top 10 forwards in the country? What are you smoking?

[JoG2]

I'd have him on my team anytime - dead eyed today from the placed ball and when nothing is going right up front (which for 55 mins was the case for Mayo) having someone that calm and reliable over frees is invaluable. If Dublin's freetakers had been on form we'd be in a final.

Cannot get over the amount of slagging of players and posters happening all across the board - most of it based on the premise that if Tyrone got slagged then Dublin/Mayo must be slagged as well. Seriously wondering why i even bother logging in.

Great credit due to Mayo for the comeback, but a lot of things went wrong for Dublin today - discipline was bad, losing ROC so early was a huge blow, and to be honest, I've no excuses to make for Connolly anymore - his temperament willl never change and will always be exploited by other teams.

All that said, I think Dublin have the bigger capacity to improve, whilst Mayo played to the limit of their abilities, certainly upfront. they are short class forwards, whilst we are not, so if we even get a 10% improvement out the field we should be able to win the replay.

BTW posting this here as I don't want to get in the maelstorm of shitetalk happening on the match thread. Well done to Mayo, incredible comeback, seconds out for next week.

Good post. I was looking forward to a proper discussion here but got sucked into the fantasies of a couple of fools above.

I would disagree on the capacity to improve though. That was our worst performance in years. Surely we can play for more than 7 minutes the next day? Our unheralded subs did pretty well as well, especially Patrick Durkan.

He's not helped by the hyperbole some people attach to him, if he's one of the best forwards in the game then you'd be expecting him to be putting in big performances fitting of one. I know he is young but too often he has been really poor from open play. Great free taker though but I wouldn't have him in the top 10 forwards around.

On the basis of today and your analysis, we wouldn't have Bernard Brogan, Diarmuid Connelly, Paul Flynn or Aiden O'Se as being in the top 10 either. Come to think of it, Gooch and O'Donoghue where quiet enough last week too, as was Cavannagh. So, does this mean none of the country's top 10 forwards are in the top 4 teams? O'Connor kicked 1-9 today, pressure was on and he responded, had he been in a Tyrone jersey last week, we might just be sitting in an AI final.

Flynn and O'Se would'nt be in the top 10 forwards about no matter what.  I think a lot of people don't give Bernard Brogan the credit he deserves, he has an unbelievable conversion rate and can score every type of score there is.  If COC was on the Tyrone team he would just add to the problem Tyrone currently have which is the main reason they aren't in an All Ireland final - because they have too many forwards who don't offer enough from play.

Au contraire,  he'd have scored the frees a plethora of your men missed ie would have struck off a few of the 'ifs'  being bandied about

[ONeill]

Cillian O'Connor's head is so generic looking its weird. He could be the default player profile on Fifa

I think this is a key point.

[BennyHarp]

For lads criticising Cillian O'Connor's contribution from play yesterday, he was the main architect in the move which led to the penalty. Also, having such a deadly accurate free taker does influence open play with regards to how cautious a team are when tackling. Defenders are more scared to give away a free if they know that it will lead to a definite point. This gives forwards a little bit more time. However, Dublin just fouled anything that moved anyway and it nearly cost them the game. This cynicism isn't new to them, they coughed up 11 points to Peter Canavan from frees in 1995.

[Shrewdness]

Bennycake, this thread wasn't started as a laugh, but to gauge the reaction to comments made by O'Connor's fellow countyman, David Brady..I think anyone who wanted to comment in a realistic way on the thread title, has done so by now. However, now i see people making comments about the shape of his head etc, so out of fairness to Cillian himself, an outstanding talent, i'm locking this thread.