Photo: MichaelMaye.com
On the odd occasion that we take a proper flaking in a game – as we sure did yesterday – it does seem a bit daft to be talking about a Man of the Match award. However, the purpose of this particular exercise is to salute the players who did best for us on a given day, regardless of how difficult that day was for us.
Yesterday’s hammering by Cork certainly made it a tough day for us but despite this the performances of a number of the lads stood out. None more so than Breaffy’s Conor O’Shea who made his full League debut for us down in Páirc Uí Rinn yesterday and performed admirably in doing so.
It’s a rather bizarre fact that Conor made his full championship debut for us as far back in 2014 but it wasn’t until yesterday that he finally lined out from the start in a League match and he marked the occasion by scoring three points. He wins the first MOTM award of 2016 with 30% of the vote. With Aidan and Seamus having won this coveted gong previously, Conor now becomes the third member of his family to do so.
Close behind Conor in the poll was his Breaffy clubmate, goalkeeper Robbie Hennelly, who came second with 27% of the vote. Tom Parsons came next, bagging 11%, then Brendan Harrison with 5% and Lee Keegan 4%.
Congrats to all of them for their performances on a day when so little went right for us.
Well done to Conor, he kicked points from play with both his left and right legs which is great to see. Keep up the good work.
Not all doom and gloom, some green shoots were showing yesterday. Conor played like a man who desperately wants that jersey. Full credit to him and no doubt we’ll see plenty of him in the future
Yes I agree with that.Showed well and looked strong.Only bright spark in the damp awfulness that was yesterday.
Well I did not go for Conor on this occasion, but I am happy to acknowledge his fine contribution nevertheless. At one point he came storming through with one defender inside him and looking vulnerable, but he checked backwards, ouch. Aidan would have lowered his right shoulder slightly and hit the gas. I will say that his awareness of those around him is much better than that his older sibling. I opted for Tom for his distribution and work rate. I was impressed with Brendan Harrison, his pace and work rate. I hope they get more game time along with Nally, Crowe, Regan.
Brendan Harrison with 5%. I know the telly cut some of the game out but what game were they watching. Well done to both Breaffy men. Robbie definitely saved us a complete bidding.
Well done to Conor, a worthy winner, and a guy who shines in adversity, as the county final demonstrated.
It’s not a big deal, but a defender who was not Keegan or Boyler coming fourth mystifies me. Indo analysis (Colm Keys) gave (out of 10), Keegan 6 and Boyler 6, the rest 5, and he was generous with his 5s. I mention this because I wanted to check my own views with some objective external source, in case I was deluding myself.
The Cork forwards scored 1:14, and but for Robbie would have scored 4:14 at least.
I only watched the second half due to tg4s stupid website crashing, and I think I’d have been better off not seeing it at all! Hennelly was by far the best Mayo player in that half, which was undoubtedly the worst 30 mins of football I’ve seen Mayo play since 2010. O Shea must have been decent in the first half, well done to him. Hes big and strong at least! The less said about sundays debacle the better, other than I would expect at least seven of the players we saw on show not to be in the championship squad come summer. By and large the same faces will spearhead our challenge later this year, with maybe 2 new guys breaking through (max). With close to 20 players unavailable for one reason or another, it’s inevitable we would have to delve into the ranks of “good club players, but just short of county level” type guys early in this campaign. That’s why the performance doesn’t worry me, but it’s hard to see us beating dublin this weekend with that squad. My biggest worry at this stage is that this injury list will linger right through the season, and as we saw on Sunday, that would be very bad news indeed for our chances.
Mac’s left boot says: If he gave our best 6 then most of the Cork lads got 9 ‘s and 10 ‘s I am guessing. They did not need to be flying in January but they are. I watched a team of Mayo players outclassed on the day but trying hard right up to the end. Good club players will be the source of the 2 or 3 additional players we are all hoping for at the end of the season, where else will they come from. Keep the faith.
Bit early to be stating that two max is the amount of new players there will be.
Conor OShea and Regan might very well make it. Regan hit the post, had a shot saved, picked out JDoc with a good pass and collected and setup Conor OShea for his score.
In a team that weren’t getting much ball in it was okay. He’s accurate with his passes and can collect and give on ball quickly.
He scored a goal in Sigerson tonight. He might not make it, but he cant be dismissed yet. U21 campaign hasnt even finished. Could be one or two close from there.
Neil Douglas Castlebar. A long way till July championship 15/26/34 yet. Those 20 year olds will be that tiny bit better six months down the line with a series of U21 games and any senior time they can get.
Fair play JP you watched what Regan did closely , his pass to doc was class. It’s his first full game,I think ever (? , 13 league games he was subbed v down and Kildare ,dropped in 14 and injured last year obviously) we have to be patient when lads are trying to break in otherwise it’s just luck . Despite all the gloom we could be onto a handful of nice forwards COS, Regan and Loftus.