When the clock strikes 50, the sweat is on.
It obviously doesn’t matter a jot what Colm Boyle does because, if Sunday is anything to go by, Stephen Rochford is going to take him off regardless.
Boyle was like a man possessed against Roscommon. Him and Lee Keegan galloped over Croke Park with purpose and venom and, when their neighbours looked like they could humiliate them, Boyle said no way and dragged his county back ashore.
And, still, come the 51st minute, he was taken off.
It didn’t matter how well he was playing, how the Rossies failed to deal with him and how much energy he looked to have in his legs still, Boyle was brought off and it could only have been pre-planned.
On The GAA Hour, neither Colm Parkinson, Steven McDonnell or Conán Doherty could understand the decision.
It seems both Boyle and Andy Moran are set to be brought off come what may – and that is not a good way to go about things.
Wooly: Andy Moran has started to get a bit selfish. I don’t think he throws it off to players running off as much anymore.
Conán: That’s a product of him coming off in every game after 55 minutes. Maybe he feels like he has to be selfish – how much does he have to score to save himself from being brought off?
Wooly: You could say the same about Colm Boyle.
Conán: Colm Boyle was brilliant.
Wooly: He was outstanding. Why was he taken off?
Stevie: I thought that was a very strange move.
Wooly: I think Rochford has in his head, ‘Boyle’s coming off and Andy Moran is coming off’ no matter what.
Stevie: His mind is already made up before the game.
Wooly: I hate that. I don’t think that’s right.
Stevie: It isn’t right. I thought, looking at it myself, ‘Boyle? What is he thinking?’ And Boyle looked mythed, he looked pissed off and I would agree with him being pissed off because he had the upper hand and he was one of the driving forces, along with Lee Keegan, to get them back into the game. You’d be extremely annoyed at that stage and it looks like Rochford has his mind made up with particular players before a game.
Listen to the full discussion on the substitutes from 24:10 below.
