Gavin: O'Shea the form player in Ireland

August 25, 2015

Mayo's Aidan O'Shea is tackled by Ross Donovan and Daniel Maye of Sligo in the Connacht SFC final.
©INPHO/Lorraine O'Sullivan.

Jim Gavin says Aidan O'Shea is the best player in Ireland at present and admits that Dublin will have to find a way of limiting his influence.

However, the Dublin manager insists that the Leinster champions won't stray far from their attacking principles in Sunday's All-Ireland semi-final:

"A lot of the attention at the moment is on Aidan O'Shea, and rightly so," he notes in The Irish Times. "I think he's the form player in Ireland. Utilising him in the forwards has produced dividends for them. He's a fine fielder of the ball, very agile on his feet, and knows where the goal is. So he's a player that very few teams have been able to get a handle on.

"But he's surrounded by some fantastic players too. They have looked very potent going forward, and their structure in midfield now with Tom Parsons and Seamie O'Shea, and Barry Moran, who played a more defensive role the last day. So they look as impressive as ever.

"We play a particular brand of football, and we wouldn't stray too far from that philosophy. We base our core principles on attacking football and a very traditional style and we won't stray too far from that.

"But most teams will adapt their strategy according to whatever game they're playing, certainly at the elite level anyway. Teams are very flexible now and can move and shift from certain concepts and patterns to the next. So I don't think we're any different from Mayo, Kerry or Tyrone in that regard."


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