O’SHEA CAN THRIVE WITH THE HEAT OFF

Workhorse: O’Shea has an unselfish role to play FORMER Dublin forward Barry Cahill reckons that there are similarities between Joe Canning’s role with Galway this year and the unselfish manner in which Aidan O’Shea has gone where Mayo have needed him this summer. Cahill believes that there is not as much pressure on the Breaffy powerhouse going into Sunday’s final, as there was in 2013, when he was expected to dictate much of how his team played — and this may benefit Mayo. ‘There is not as much pressure on Aidan as there was two or three years ago,’ Cahill pointed out. ‘He is playing more of an unselfish role, and it was a bit like Joe Canning going into this year’s AllIreland final with Galway, where it was more about what he was doing for the team.’ Cahill feels that O’Shea will be utilised around centrefield by Stephen Rochford on Sunday. ‘Aidan needs to get a lot of ball early on and Mayo need to get Aidan on as much ball as possible. So I can see him trying to win ball around the middle, trying to act as a stopper for any of the Dublin halfbacks that are coming through.’ However, Cahill is still confident that Dublin can complete the three-in-arow this Sunday, with one of the reasons being their water-tight defence, which has been overshadowed because of their array of attacking options. ‘The defence has been good,’ Cahill said. ‘I don’t think Stephen Cluxton has been too busy, he had a couple of saves to make against Kildare and one in the Monaghan game. ‘The defence hasn’t been under massive pressure because they have been so dominant around the middle third and have such firepower up front. ‘As a unit, they are very strong. The fact that Rory O’Carroll hasn’t been missed at all is incredible, considering he was the best full-back in the country for five years in a position that was a problem for Dublin since Paddy Christie retired 10 years previously. ‘But Rory headed off in 2015 and there hasn’t been a word about it. The lads have sort of seamlessly slotted into place and there is a really good structure there that will be difficult for Mayo to break down — and they will need to break it down on Sunday because Mayo will probably need a couple of goals if they are to win.’