Everyone enjoys something good until it gets too good.
Things can be appreciated by everyone, or at least they can be inoffensive to everyone, until their status scales new heights. When once there might not have been nothing but good will or just indifference towards something, critics start propping up from nowhere when the perception is that these things are getting too big. Just look at Ed Sheeran.
Cora Staunton probably enjoyed her summer peak during her semi-final dismantling of the great Cork. 1-9 she hit that day in a performance of class and heart and one which dragged Mayo – beaten earlier in the year by Galway – unprecedentedly through to the Croke Park decider having slayed the queens of ladies football en route. The entire country was drooling over her that day and it was only natural.
Comhghairdeas le Cora Staunton @duckie15 Laoch na hImeartha sinsir @LadiesFootball inniu #Properfan #TG4 pic.twitter.com/eAIuQF1i2V
— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) September 2, 2017
So she came into the final against Dublin and there were probably a few more casual fans than usual tuning in outside of the record attendance that showed up at the game.
They had all heard of Cora Staunton – who hasn’t at this stage? They all acknowledge the ridiculous service she has given to not just her county but to the sport as well and they’re not stupid enough to deny that she has talent.
But there must be something amiss. She couldn’t be that good.
One glimpse at a social media channel and you’d spot straight away fans up in arms like a bunch of kids on the playground, “pass the ball!” Cora doesn’t pass, they say. That’s the stick to beat her with.
So her three goals and 40 points in just five games in this championship are overlooked because the best player in Ireland was backing herself every time she got a sniff of the posts.
She didn’t have her now customary world-beating game on Sunday. She scored seven, only three were from play and she missed too many. It doesn’t matter. When you have a player like Cora Staunton, you sicken her with possession and do you know what else? You sit back and let her do what she wants to do when she gets the ball within range.
Just like the old tale that sparked controversy around Roy Hodgson a few years ago when his team talk said the words, “feed the monkey”, the same applies here. The line was taken out of context. The story Hodgson told when he was managing England was of a man and a monkey on a space shuttle. The monkey was basically doing everything and, every time he did something right, the man was there to feed him – positive reinforcement. Eventually, he radioed back to ask what he should do but they told him to do nothing. Keep doing what you’re doing. Just feed the monkey.
If it works, if it ain’t broken, don’t start getting stupid for no reason.
If you have Cora Staunton in your side, you have to be a moron to not set the whole thing up around her.
There’s a reason why there were two Dubs on her toes for the whole game and why even more joined in whenever she got the ball in her hands like she did time and time again.
There’s also a reason why you allow for her off-the-cuff freestyling – if you want to call it selfish, fine. The reason is because it makes the most sense. It makes sense to let Cora Staunton do what she wants to do. It makes sense to enable her confidence and to let her shoot whenever she wants to.
It makes sense because it makes statistical sense. More times than not, it pays off.
Any manager who took over that team would and should be looking at how they get the most out of Cora Staunton. The most you can get is to get her on the ball as often as possible and in the most dangerous areas.
The whole system should be designed around her getting on the end of things, just like every system in every sport should be designed around the most lethal attackers. And the whole system should allow for their spontaneity and their individualism too.
Cora Staunton isn’t bigger than Mayo, she’s one of its most loyal, most dedicated servants. But Mayo, and definitely this team, are all the bigger when Cora Staunton is allowed to do her thing.
This is not about what she deserves and what she has done. This is just logic. Pure, objective logic.
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