Darren Coen or Andy Moran? Why not have both?
Had you offered Mayo, after their Connacht loss to Roscommon, what is effectively a home quarter final to reach the All-Ireland semis, they would have hungrily snatched at it.
A little under two months ago and Mayo – the national league champions – came a-cropper against the Rossies and were facing into another slog through the qualifiers. Added to that, Donal Vaughan and Seamus O’Shea were still out injured and then James Horan lost Matthew Ruane and captain Diarmud O’Connor.
On their first rest weekend since heading through the back door, Mayo look in better shape and have defied many of the pundits that felt they were “finished” or ‘dead men walking’.
On The GAA Hour, host Colm Parkinson, Conan Doherty and former Meath forward Cian Ward looked ahead to Mayo’s clash with Donegal. In terms of the Mayo attack [from 1:05:00], Doherty had a suggestion many Mayo fans will hope Horan agrees with.
Parkinson felt that Mayo would have beaten Meath much easier, in their Super 8s clash, had Moran been on the pitch from the start.
“Andy Moran was the outstanding player of the second half… Moran, in his first two possessions, set up Fergal Boland and Cillian O’Connor for points from play, he scored a point of his own, caught the [Meath] kick-out that set up Kevin McLoughlin’s goal, and then he got fouled for a free that O’Connor scored – that’s 1-5 there.”
Doherty is adamant that Moran must start against Donegal next weekend:
“He just transforms the movement up there. Without him, it is so static and predictable. And he is just always available, and changes so much for them.”
When Parkinson argued that forward Darren Coen, who Moran replaced at half-time, was ‘doing well’, Doherty agreed and said he would have keep both men on together. He continued:
“When I say start Andy Moran, I would still start Darren Coen too. Coen is a different type of player; he’s a finisher. When he gets the chance, he’ll put it away.
“But I just thought that Mayo, as a forward unit, weren’t doing well and they just needed Moran to come in and change it.”
Cillian O’Connor will start against Donegal so Horan is left with three into two – Coen, Moran and Boland vying for those forward roles.
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