MAYO SAFELY BOOKED their passage into Monday’s round 3 qualifier draw yesterday, but their delight was tempered by concerns over the shoulder injury sustained by Seamus O’Shea.
The Breaffy midfielder was forced to depart in the 30th minute when took a heavy knock to the shoulder and received oxygen from medical officials as he left the field.
O’Shea’s replacement Diarmuid O’Connor performed well in the second-half but Mayo did miss O’Shea’s aerial prowess when Tipperary midfielders Steven O’Brien and Jack Kennedy claimed three marks between them.
A dislocated shoulder would rule O’Shea out for the next few weeks at the very least and it represents another blow to Mayo’s midfield department.
Tom Parsons is out for the season after sustaining a horror leg injury in the defeat to Galway in the Connacht quarter-final last month.
Stephen Rochford was not optimistic about O’Shea’s prognosis when he spoke after the game.
“He’s gone to hospital, it’s a shoulder injury,” the Mayo manager stated. “It doesn’t particularly look good. Minimum dislocation.”
Sky Sports later reported that O’Shea was taken to South Tipperary General Hospital in Clonmel for treatment.
Analysing their display, Rochford was full of praise for his full-back pair of Paddy Durcan and Ger Cafferkey who held dangerous Premier forwards Michael Quinlivan and Conor Sweeney to just 0-1 each in the second-half after a cagey opening period.
“Maybe Michael might have got in for the goal, maybe one other point but I thought Paddy and Ger were two of our best performers and not in a simple way.
“I think it was clear that Tipperary were trying to pull 10 or 12 guys back and leaving a lot of space in front of them. In a fast pitch, in an open pitch like Semple Stadium, that is not easy. And I thought they were like two bouncers at the end, they really closed out the game.
“I thought Paddy, for a guy thrown into the full-back position, really revelled in it and that on the back of a fine defensive performance against Galway, it has really shown his quality and he is maturing into a top footballer.”
Tipperary played with Brian Fox as a seventh defender, but Rochford made the bold move not to use his spare man to protect the space in front of Quinlivan and Sweeney.
Instead, he employed his free man Keegan as an auxiliary centre-back/midfielder, before Keith Higgins assumed the role after the first quarter.
“We were trying to get the balance between not allowing Tipperary to have a guy in space who can pick out the perfect pass, which would make that guy you are trying to have redundant,” Rochford explained.
“And you are trying to mix that up, trying to get a squeeze, trying to get a turnover. Just trying to get that balance right, it worked well at times and it probably didn’t work as well off Tipperary kick-outs. And that is something we will need to work on for next week.”
The nature of Mayo’s finish, where they scored 1-7 without reply down the stretch, was pleased the Mayo boss but he also stressed they had plenty to improve on.
“After James’s goal, we drove on then after that. We created one or two chances. James blazed one over the bar just before that but we were starting to get some traction through the middle.
“If it wasn’t that goal I still felt we were creating opportunities but I’m not sure if eight points is a fair reflection in relation to the winning margin.
“Tipperary are a fine, fine team. There’s definitely things to work on there, somethings with our tackling, especially in the first-half whereby we weren’t getting our skill execution and our first touch as crisp and clean as we needed it to be.”
Mayo were without Brendan Harrison, Donal Vaughan, Neil Douglas and Barry Moran due to injuries yesterday and they’ll face a race against time to be fit for next weekend.
Rochford will now focus on getting the recovery right over the next few days as they prepare for the quick turnaround.
“That’s what happens through the qualifiers. You’re going to have games and moments that not just test your physical but mental resolve.
“We know the coaching, the strength and conditioning and all that, have the guys in really good shape. And they need to be, we are into another game in seven days after playing in that heat. Crucial for the next period.”
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