Mayo lose O’shea for 10 weeks
MAYO midfielder Seamus O’shea underwent surgery yesterday on the shoulder injury he picked up in Saturday’s win over Tipperary.
It is feared the 31-year old is looking at around 10 weeks out and his loss is compounded by the fact that his midfield partner in the last two All-ireland finals, Tom Parsons, is ruled out until next season with a serious knee injury.
On a brighter note for Mayo, Rochford hopes to have Donal Vaughan and Brendan Harrison back in contention next weekend after both recovered from leg injuries.
Jason Doherty produced a man of the match performance, crowned with three second-half points, as Mayo came from behind to beat Tipperary by 1-19 to 1-11 in Thurles on Saturday.
Mayo may not have won a Connacht Championship under Stephen Rochford but this was their eighth qualifier win in a row since he took charge for the 2016 season and Doherty is hopeful that, like the last two years, they will take the long route to the All-ireland final in September.
“This was another step up from Limerick, but it opened our eyes that if we can do a lot of things right, if we are not clinical with our final pass like in the first-half today, we can out ourselves in serious pressure.
“It took us longer than expected to get going, and that we would have liked. But definitely started moving well by the end of it, and just hopefully.
“It is a good sign of our fitness we were able to push on. Things opened up a bit more in the second-half, we were able to break gain lines, compared to the first half,” he said.