Could Mayo actually win Sam this year

[An Fhairche Abu]

Thats just an opinion about DOC and far from a ridiculous one in my opinion. DOC was absolutely fantastic against the dubs last year. He was instrumental in mayo winning the under 21 all Ireland this year. Youll have to wait and see how both he and mayo progress this year before you dismiss him as good/ better than donnellan. Hasnt hit 21 yet as far as i know not till later on in the year.

It's not a dismissal of DOC, it's a dismissal of that opinion right now, have people seriously forgotten just how good, especially at the start of his inter county career, Michael Donnellan was?
DOC certainly has the potential to be a great player. I thought he was Mayo's best player last year and he is already clearly a difference maker and a huge talent. If he goes on to be a better player than Donnellan than more power to him, he will be the best Mayo player I've ever seen if that's the case.

If Mayo fans want to go and say that he is better than Donnellan already then that's their own lookout, I certainly can't get on board with that opinion at the moment, no more than you (myself as well I should say) would get on board with any undue praise that Galway are, allegedly, getting as some sort of a great team after beating the sheep in a heap that were the Rossies last Sunday.

If the B side of the qualifiers go as I expect then Mayo will have to beat Tyrone in the Q-final, do that and if we manage to win the Q-final (and absolutely no guarantee at all of that) then it's a semi-final pairing that few would have seen coming purely because Galway would be playing in it.
Certainly I would have thought after the Mayo match in Castlebar, that while it was a huge win for Galway, Mayo were probably still going to go further in the Championship than Galway were, perhaps ye will get the chance to ensure that in August while blowing us out of the water at the same time.

[Maroon Manc]

DOC is a phenomenal footballer even more so given his age but I'd compare him more in style to Dooher rather than Donnellan.

[Cunny Funt]

D O Connor can do without the hype if he is to become the player that many believe he will be. What seems to be forgotten is it was Irwin,loftus,Coen that led Mayo to their first U21 Connacht title for 7 years not O Connor and without a Connacht title no All Ireland would have been won.

On the topic of the thread, that question remains since 1951. Before a ball was thrown in many believed Mayo would reach another All Ireland final this summer and by the luck of the qualifier draw Mayo could well reach that All Ireland final yet however if they do most Mayo supporters will know trying to beat this current Dublin team will be extremely difficult and their championship record v Kerry (no win for 20 years) is poor.

Few Galway supporters would have expected a Connacht title this year but now that it's won they will expect to reach All Ireland semi final at least and if they were to reach the final they won't have the pressure on them to win Sam like Mayo would have.

[rosnarun]

donneallan for me was one of the 3 or 4 very top player in the last few decades up there with Maurice Fitz, peter Canavan , daragh O se and very few other players. If DOC can prove to be in that class by keeping going the way hes going it would be incredible.
Mayo don't even need him to be that good Mayo have the back up players, Aidan is getting close to that level now but will never be considered so untill he was a few Gold Crosses

[Wildweasel74]

Somebody over on the Mayo blog must been on drugs if they think DOC is better at 21 than MD was, Michael Donnellan had a serious year in 1998, i know. he and Fallon gave us a fair trimming in the semi