Aidan O’Shea would benefit from being himself and not jack of all trades

What do Mayo want Aidan O'Shea to be? It's a question they need to answer to themselves before next Saturday because on the evidence of the drawn All-Ireland final, it would appear to be: everything, all at once.

O'Shea's first possession in last Sunday's match came after 32 seconds. He hooked an ambitious, left-foot shot wide of Stephen Cluxton's post and immediately fouled Jonny Cooper when the Dublin goalkeeper restarted with a short kick-out. The shot might not have been beyond O'Shea's range but it signalled his desire and eagerness to be what everyone says he must be: a go-to man, a leader, the player of his generation, an attacking presence, a scoring threat, a ball winner. The main man.

That early wide bookended the long-range wild shot to nowhere by O’Shea deep into the injury-time period of the second half, when Mayo were desperately seeking an equalising score. Had Mayo not earned themselves a second chance, that shot would have become infamous and used as a handy illustration of everything Mayo lacked in the critical moment. It wasn’t O’Shea’s best moment and it looked like a desperation effort.

In his defence, it can be pointed out that there was little else on; there was little movement around him when he looked up and the space was there to have a go. It was another example of O'Shea taking on the responsibility and trying to be the supernova figure that the public expects him to be. And it eclipsed a terrific bit of play just two minutes earlier, when he took a pass around centre field, was instantly fouled and played a smart, quick, inviting ball to Donal Vaughan, who landed the score which left just one between the teams.

Levelling score

And it is forgotten, too, that it was also O’Shea who handed off the assist to Cillian O’Connor as he stepped up to fire his levelling score. So while O’Shea is open to criticism, he had a central role in both of those crucial points and it can never be claimed that he shied away from responsibility.

Still, the drawn All-Ireland final sheds little light on what kind of role Mayo had in mind for the Breaffy man. Because of his pronounced athletic ability and physical size, O’Shea has been cast as the talisman of his generation, like Liam McHale and Ciaran McDonald before him. In Mayo, that has always been a tricky and sometimes thankless part.

After that early wide, five minutes passed in the first half before O'Shea got his next meaningful touch, when he was at the centre of what was arguably Mayo's best attacking move of the first half. It started when Brendan Harrison's quick hands stripped Bernard Brogan of possession in front of the Cusack stand sideline. Harrison then evaded Brogan and Brian Fenton and found Colm Boyle with the outlet ball.

In many subsequent attacks, the Mayo ball-carriers were reticent about going at the Dublin defence but they didn’t hang about here.Boyle and Jason Doherty moved two quick passes to Lee Keegan, who played a measured kick-pass into O’Shea. It was a very good, simple pass, perfectly weighted and hitting O’Shea chest-high so he could collect the ball on the move and without breaking stride, and once he turned to face the Dublin goal you could all but hear the fire alarm going off in the blues’ defensive unit.

Cian O’Sullivan was grappling to stay with O’Shea as he generated momentum and the other Dublin defenders raced to pack the square as quickly as possible.

O’Shea has a playmaker’s instinct and he fed a pass to Patrick Durcan, whose goal shot was blocked. It went down as a Mayo goal chance but in truth, it wasn’t. Durcan had no clear trajectory on goal.

What the move signalled was the chaos O’ Shea is capable of creating whenever he gets the ball on the move. He is almost impossible to stop once he gets his feet pumping and inside the 40, any free conceded means a highly probable point for Cillian O’Connor. But Mayo failed to get O’Shea in that position for the rest of the match.

Blocked shot

As it was, Durcan’s blocked shot led to a 45 for O’Connor. O’Shea got a flick on O’Connor’s free and the ball skidded towards Stephen Cluxton’s goal. The Dublin ’keeper was perfectly placed but still: that was a goal chance O’Shea created on a nothing ball. After that, O’Shea had to drift out around the 50 to receive possession and could do little more than hand off. Or he was asked to try to win long, low-percentage balls while being marked by Philly McMahon and covered by O’Sullivan. It was bread and butter for the Dublin defence.

In the 28th minute, Dublin were made aware of O’Shea’s threat again: a good, diagonal ball from Andy Moran gave him a chance to establish himself inside McMahon, who instantly realised he was in trouble after he fronted the Mayo man. He got out of jail through O’Shea’s instinctive little shove in the back: Philly stretched his arms out in protest as O’Shea gathered the ball in the square and then bustled O’Sullivan out of the way. Referee Conor Lane gave the call to the defender. But it was a close call for Dublin and further proof that they didn’t want to gamble and leave him unattended.

O’Shea is like Michael Murphy in that he is a magnet to all defenders. McMahon’s preoccupation with keeping tabs on O’Shea meant he couldn’t get up the field with his usual regularity. Dublin never lost sight of O’Shea. But Mayo did. He never stopped trying to get into the game but by trying to play both full forward and further out, he often seemed to end up arriving just as the play was developing elsewhere.

When David Clarke surveyed the field for a target man on Mayo’s kickout, he would surely have been relieved to see O’Shea arriving as an alternative option. But O’Shea’s role for Mayo’s restart was to position himself deep in the Dublin half in order to keep their defence pinned back.

Worked like a demon

And when the Dublin defenders had possession, O’Shea worked like a demon to close them down. But when he tried to shepherd natural ball-carriers like Cooper or John Small, the potential to pick up a yellow card – or worse – was always there.

If O’Shea’s role was to act as a decoy deep in Dublin territory, to occupy at least two defenders and to then live off scraps, it worked a treat. But it led to a scoreless game.

And when people think of O’Shea, they think of a dominant, rampaging figure shattering through the last line of defence. The heavy security which Dublin have detailed for O’Shea is clear evidence that they respect and fear that reputation.

Things might work out better for O’Shea and Mayo next week if they realise that he doesn’t have to be everything for everyone. He just has to concentrate on being himself.