Aidan O'Shea

[INDIANA]

It's like trying to teach trigonometry to calves. They see but they don't understand. Some don't even see. A performance that included serial possession winning, vision, right place, right time, anticipation, 32 possessions (THIRTY TWO!) inspired defending, finding the right pass 98% of the time and just one (ONE!) error is dismissed as "a couple of bullock runs". All he didn't do was score a goal and save a penalty. But that's not good enough for those who think his brother was better. Even if that was in some other match. Sometimes I wonder. More times I don't bother.

(FOSB - don't you think the 1996 theme is a bit played out? We still enjoy the memories but it would be healthier for you lads to forget the trauma.)

You'd have to question why Donegal kept firing kick-outs in his direction.

So it wasn't a great performance because Donegal kicked the ball in his direction. Right.

You can't hit greatness on the strength of one game

Indeed. Who said anything about greatness? My OP was about the best midfield performance I remember in Croke park. No more. No less. He could have a stinker in the semi. He might never play well again. It will still be the best midfield performance I can remember.

I'm saying Donegal made it easy for him. Thats all.

As regards the second part you're entitled to your opinion but I'd have a few performances from Jack O Shea and Mullins in my head when marking each otherthat would have eclipsed that

[iorras]

We were well beaten in the match but we still fared fairly well against the O'Sheas



In 2011 Connacht final we won midfield against the two O'Sheas but still lost 

We were excellent at winning breaks against Mayo, at least in the first 25 minutes or so when it was a contest. Keenan was like a human vacuum cleaner. The way to beat AOS is breaking it away from him or, where possible, just avoiding him. For all his good work going back into defence you'd love to have your forwards in space with AOS on them because like any man his size he's not going to be able to react as fast or match the smaller man's acceleration.

Why do the Rossies always try to manage to bring EVERY topic back to the irrelevance that is Roscommon football?

Move on lads, go back to watching the 1980 final on Betamax

[nrico2006]

People seem to be getting confused here as I would imagine that most Tyrone people would rate Sean Cavanagh as the best midfielder in the country currently.

Fixed that for you

Do you believe Aidan O'Se is better than Sean Cavanagh?

[brokencrossbar1]

Hardy is was a very good performance but as much as it hurts me to do this but I agree with Indiana.  Donegal made it very easy for him and I would go further to say that it wasn't just the fact that Donegal bombed the kickouts on top of him constantly.  The Donegal MF was AWOL for the 70 minutes.  They simply did not have any impact on the game.  You might say that was to do with AOS and his overall awesomeness but they were an abject failure in terms of their role.  Anyone can be an All Star when they are not marked.  When he had the ball he did everything right but it is easy to do it right when not under any pressure.  He field the ball well but he was not under any pressure.  Maybe he is going to be the greatest MF ever but not just on the performance against Donegal.  I would say though that the winning of the AI semi will be decided by who has the most influence in the game between AOS and Cavanagh.

[AZOffaly]

I thought Aidan OShea was brilliant on Sunday. Was it the best midfield performance in my memory, I dunno, but my memory is bad Obviously Donegal were abect, but in fairness there's a cameo where O'Shea won a great ball in his own defence, made a mistake and turned it over coming out, and then blocked the lad down to win it back for Mayo. He was all over the place, bulling out with the ball, winning it and clearing out.  Obviously Donegal's ineptitude was a factor, but it's not like he stood in one place and they kicked it to him all day either.

In terms of 'possessions' though, Gooch had over 30 on Saturday as well, which I thought was very impressive, and I think he's the sort of lad that will do damage with his passing if he's getting the ball 30 times. Ger Brennan will need to get a lot tighter than Cavan did.

Back to O'Shea though, it was a great performance, and I think the fact that he won MOTM while a corner forward scored 3-4 is fairly impressive itself!

[Hardy]

Hardy is was a very good performance but as much as it hurts me to do this but I agree with Indiana.  Donegal made it very easy for him and I would go further to say that it wasn't just the fact that Donegal bombed the kickouts on top of him constantly.  The Donegal MF was AWOL for the 70 minutes.  They simply did not have any impact on the game.  You might say that was to do with AOS and his overall awesomeness but they were an abject failure in terms of their role.  Anyone can be an All Star when they are not marked.  When he had the ball he did everything right but it is easy to do it right when not under any pressure.  He field the ball well but he was not under any pressure.  Maybe he is going to be the greatest MF ever but not just on the performance against Donegal.  I would say though that the winning of the AI semi will be decided by who has the most influence in the game between AOS and Cavanagh.

BC, I'm not disagreeing with you or Indiana. I'm just saying that no matter what the reason, this was the best display I can remember from a midfielder. A couple of points, though:

Even if Donegal were kicking the ball to him all the time, he had to win it. He did - practically every time - and that was jumping with three others most of the time. And you could argue that the absence of Donegal's midfield was as likely the effect of AO'S's performance as the cause of it. (But I won't - they were shite.)

[imtommygunn]

People seem to be getting confused here as I would imagine that most Tyrone people would rate Sean Cavanagh as the best midfielder in the country currently.

Fixed that for you

Do you believe Aidan O'Se is better than Sean Cavanagh?

I don't think there's much in it. Sean Cavanagh scores more points so gets more headlines. At the dirty ball winning, laying off etc etc O'Se is better. At attacking and scoring Cavanagh is better.

In terms of value to the team  Tyrone have less free scoring forwards(maybe that should be players with Mayo's half back line) so depend on Cavanagh's scores more and he is invaluable in that regard. In terms of O'Se's value to the team he provides the platform for others to score. If O'Se didn't win so much ball Mayo wouldn't score anywhere near as much. If Cavanagh didn't score points Tyrone wouldn't score anywhere near as much. Net result really the same to me and they're about on a par.

[BennyHarp]

O'Shea was good on Sunday but his performance has been grossly over-rated! Funny how he is lauded for a display which included two cynical yellow card fouls and Cavanagh is castigated for what an equally good performance with one cynical yellow card foul. O'Shea's 2nd yellow when 20 or so points ahead was silly in the extreme! I personally think Donal Vaughan had a much bigger influence on the game, especially in the first half when the game was still there to be won.

[nrico2006]

Is the number of possessions the new stat in rage in 2013?  Never heard as much about the number of possessions certain players had as I have over the past few weeks.  Its what you do with it that counts.

[blewuporstuffed]

People seem to be getting confused here as I would imagine that most Tyrone people would rate Sean Cavanagh as the best midfielder in the country currently.

Fixed that for you

Do you believe Aidan O'Se is better than Sean Cavanagh?

I don't think there's much in it. Sean Cavanagh scores more points so gets more headlines. At the dirty ball winning, laying off etc etc O'Se is better. At attacking and scoring Cavanagh is better.

In terms of value to the team  Tyrone have less free scoring forwards(maybe that should be players with Mayo's half back line) so depend on Cavanagh's scores more and he is invaluable in that regard. In terms of O'Se's value to the team he provides the platform for others to score. If O'Se didn't win so much ball Mayo wouldn't score anywhere near as much. If Cavanagh didn't score points Tyrone wouldn't score anywhere near as much. Net result really the same to me and they're about on a par.

O'se has done it once in croke park , whereas cavanagh ahs been doing it for 10 years.
O'se may go on to be as good a football as cavanagh, he might win 3 allirelands, a footballer of the year and 4 or 5 allstars, but at the minute i would say Cavanagh is the better player having already done all that

[Syferus]

I can't believe anyone could type that it's even questionable that Sean Cavanagh is a better midfielder than AOS right now.

Cavanagh has never been a traditional midfielder, he's in the Earley mould of being the free-taker/key attacker on his team. As an out-and-out midfielder Cavanagh has rarely struck me as exceptional. As a player, he's one of the best of his generation. He's playing in the middle because Mickey knows it's the best place to have him to feed him ball. The more touches he gets, the better it always is for Tyrone.

[Man Marker]

I can't believe anyone could type that Sean Cavanagh it's even questionable that he is a better midfielder than AOS right now.

Cavanagh has never been a traditional midfielder, he's in the Earley mould of being the free-taker/key attacker on his team. As an out-and-out midfielder Cavanagh has rarely struck me as exceptional. As a player, he's one of the best of his generation.

Can you understand this, Cavanagh is playing midfield for Tyrone, what you need to do is reassess your view of football, traditional football doesn't exist i.e. 15 V 15 orthordox style, its now everyone defend, everyone attack, very simple, but I'm sure you understand, do you?

[imtommygunn]

People seem to be getting confused here as I would imagine that most Tyrone people would rate Sean Cavanagh as the best midfielder in the country currently.

Fixed that for you

Do you believe Aidan O'Se is better than Sean Cavanagh?

I don't think there's much in it. Sean Cavanagh scores more points so gets more headlines. At the dirty ball winning, laying off etc etc O'Se is better. At attacking and scoring Cavanagh is better.

In terms of value to the team  Tyrone have less free scoring forwards(maybe that should be players with Mayo's half back line) so depend on Cavanagh's scores more and he is invaluable in that regard. In terms of O'Se's value to the team he provides the platform for others to score. If O'Se didn't win so much ball Mayo wouldn't score anywhere near as much. If Cavanagh didn't score points Tyrone wouldn't score anywhere near as much. Net result really the same to me and they're about on a par.

O'se has done it once in croke park , whereas cavanagh ahs been doing it for 10 years.
O'se may go on to be as good a football as cavanagh, he might win 3 allirelands, a footballer of the year and 4 or 5 allstars, but at the minute i would say Cavanagh is the better player having already done all that

In one respect I would agree with you - Cavanagh has done it many times before so you know he is tried and trusted.

Aidan O'Se hasn't done it so much before and is still a developing player so has he just had a few good games or is he outstanding.

Based on the last number of games I doubt there's too much in it.

That isn't a slight on Sean Cavanagh. At the minute he's playing outstanding but so is Aidan O'Se.

Note that for Cavanagh to play such an outstanding role he needs a partner in crime as for once Syferus makes a valid point that Cavanagh isn't a traditional midfielder. He needs a foil to allow him to play the way he does and at present Colm is doing that very well despite all criticism.

[Syferus]

I can't believe anyone could type that Sean Cavanagh it's even questionable that he is a better midfielder than AOS right now.

Cavanagh has never been a traditional midfielder, he's in the Earley mould of being the free-taker/key attacker on his team. As an out-and-out midfielder Cavanagh has rarely struck me as exceptional. As a player, he's one of the best of his generation.

Can you understand this, Cavanagh is playing midfield for Tyrone, what you need to do is reassess your view if football, traditional football doesn't exist i.e. 15 V 15 orthordox style, its now everyone defend, evryone attack, very simple, but I'm sure you understand, do you?

Where did anything I said contradict any of that?

Midfielders are still expected to win or break ball and provide possession, that much certainly has not changed, no matter what other duties they're given. AOS does the things that make you a midfielder better than Sean Cavanagh does. Simple enough, I'd say.

[screenexile]

Jesus some bit of getting carried away on here. At the minute the All Star Midfield is Cavanagh and AOS. Player of the year at this stage would probably be Jack McCaffrey. Does it really matter who is the better footballer? We'll have a fair answer when they go head to head I think but at this point it's conjecture!