‘That aul soccer nonsense’ doesn’t always go down too well in Gaelic football but even the nay-sayers are being won over by Diarmuid O’Connor.
And that’s saying something. It was always going to take something special to do that but, on three occasions in this league campaign to date, O’Connor has mixed the soccer with the Gaelic. The flashy with the effective. And you’d want to be some begrudger give out about that.
Even by his standards, it was still an audacious move, with two men on his tail, with cats and dogs raining out of the sky, to go for a full-blown step-over but that’s the sort of confidence the man is playing with at the moment. Even the Kerry fans in Tralee were admiring that one.
Graham O’Sullivan and Jason Foley were the men on his tail but O’Connor had both of them seeing double when he shimmied one way and went the other. O’Sullivan was still on the deck by the time O’Connor was up and away, surveying the other side of the field.
In the Kerry-man’s defence, it’s hardly something you’d be expecting on a GAA field but kids all over will be practicing the Diarmuid O’Connor this Sunday morning. It’ll take a hell of a lot of practice to get that one right.
DOC 4 Balon d'OR 🔥pic.twitter.com/VWQiR1iQMN
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) March 13, 2022
Just three weeks ago, the same man pulled off another soccer-style dribble in Croke Park when he beat Michael Fitzsimons and set up Jack Carney’s goal.
That Diarmuid O'Connor is different level 👌pic.twitter.com/2zvegwbUK1
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) February 20, 2022
While there was another flick-up against Donegal, the type that quietens the spectators who expect nothing less than a fully-bent back.
Diarmuid O'Connor has a bottomless pit of an engine pic.twitter.com/XAUOMNK08q
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) January 31, 2022
These moments of magic aside, O’Connor has been playing some brilliant stuff for Mayo, rampaging up and down that left wing with the stamina of a Grand National racehorse. He’s well-known for his tremendous work-rate and his bottomless engine but when you add in the finesse and the skill too, it makes him one of the best players in the business.
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