Sometimes it’s not just about needing a world class forward.
If Mayo’s shooting stats prove anything, it’s that shot selection is crucial and performing basic skills in scoring zones should not be taken for granted.
First up, positives:
- They won
- Aidan O’Shea was bloody immense in the middle
- The Derry manager hailed the Mayo support
But going forward into the hat of Round 3A with Donegal, Clare, and Meath, Stephen Rochford might just be a little concerned at the efficiency of his attack.
It probably royally pissed off the like of Aidan O’Shea and Tom Parsons too who absolutely dominated in the middle third. Imagine they lost that game – the two boys literally could not have done anymore.
The shooting left a lot to be desired though.
"It's more than passion in Mayo. It's just life out here." – @ConanDoherty from Castlebarhttps://t.co/aAaRGa06CH
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) July 1, 2017
It’s important to look at the contrast between normal time and extra time.
- In the first 70 minutes, Mayo missed 25 scoring chances.
- In the 20 minutes of extra time, they missed 2.
This wasn’t a sudden and drastic improvement in decision making and technical ability, it was a simple case that Derry were gassed. Mentally and physically, they could no longer keep up with Mayo who powered home and took their chances with much more time and space in extra time.
They almost scored as much in 20 minutes than they did in 70.
So we’ll look at how they performed in normal time to see how their attack coped under pressure.
Mayo’s attack in 70 minutes:
- Scored 1-12
- 16 wides
- 4 dropped short
- 2 off the post
- 3 goalkeeper saves
In 70 minutes of football, Mayo missed 25 scoring chances. And it wasn’t like they were shooting from some impossible angles.
First half
Under serious pressure from a hungry Derry outfit, Mayo managed to notch up just two scores from play in the first five minutes.
They missed nine pointed efforts in the first period and one goal chance and look at where some of their misses were coming from.
Against top defences like Tyrone or Donegal in their day, you’d see a dome form around the posts with only anomaly shots appearing from inside that scoring zone. But Mayo were waltzing in past Derry freely and still missing.
First half misses:
Cillian O’Connor – 4
Kevin McLoughlin – 2
Andy Moran – 2
Paddy Durcan – 1
Fergal Boland – 1
It only got worse in the second half.
Second half
Second half misses:
Cillian O’Connor – 4
Tom Parsons – 3
Lee Keegan – 2
Kevin McLoughlin – 2
Andy Moran – 2
Stephen Coen – 2
They missed 15 chances in the second period – three of which were goal chances – and they were spread across six different players, four forwards.
There seemed to be no real pattern to the attack and chances were random and not taken with a great deal of composure.
Derry were much better than anyone expected but Mayo almost shot themselves out of this game when they could’ve racked up a bigger score – particularly early on – and dented the opposition’s belief.
You can talk all you want about ‘Mayo needing a forward’ but they should be taking a lot of those chances. The bright side is that it should be something that can be fixed.
The majority of these efforts were not pot shots. They should be finished off – they could be finished off by most players. Rochford would want to spend the next two weeks working on shooting under pressure.
At the minute, it’s by far their biggest problem.
