Final warning for O’Connor

Former Dublin manager Tommy Lyons says Cillian O’Connor will become “another Henry Shefflin” if Mayo start him on Sunday.

The Mayo native also maintains his own county don’t have two quality inside forwards that he says have traditionally been necessary in any team that has won an All-Ireland title.

However, he also believes the selection headache Jim Gavin is faced with ahead of the All-Ireland final is giving him restless nights.

But it’s Mayo that Lyons is most worried about and the risk of James Horan giving the nod to shoulder injury victim O’Connor and the player breaking down like Shefflin did in the 2010 All-Ireland hurling final.

“I think Mayo are very good one to 10. If you were grading the sides from one to 10 Mayo might shade it. But 11 to 20 is where Dublin have the edge.

“All-Irelands have never been won yet without two standout inside men. I don’t see them in Mayo. Cillian O’Connor, I just hope they don’t start him because it will be another Henry Shefflin. He won’t last 10 or 15 minutes.”

Lyons also queries Andy Moran’s form since he returned this summer after a cruciate operation last year.

“Andy Moran looks like the injury has taken a yard of pace off him. Now maybe James Horan has created a masterstroke here the last day by leaving him on to give him that extra time (Moran was replaced in the 56th minute).

“He knew that he had the game won so he gave him the game time and that might be a masterstroke. But he hasn’t looked the player he was and he was a phenomenal leader for Mayo.

“He was their ‘go to’ man for the last seven years. He stood up for Mayo when no one else stood up.

“I just find it hard to see a team winning an All-Ireland without two inside men who are going to deliver you, big scores like 2-7, 2-8 and so on. Generally that’s what wins you All-Irelands.”

With question marks over whether Gavin will remain loyal to Kevin O’Brien and Ger Brennan after calling them ashore early against Kerry, Lyons feels the Dublin manager is faced with conundrums.

” It’s a process I’d say has kept Jim awake at night. Ger Brennan has been very good. Everyone knows what Ger brings to the table. Everyone knows what his weakness is. It’s a big call by dropping him (because) you won’t be bringing him in.

“Mayo aren’t going to play a man up on him like Kerry did because Keith Higgins won’t play like that so maybe it is set up for them (Dublin) this time.

“But I think Dublin are weaker defensively when he is there. He can’t get back to the ‘D’ with sufficient pace. But then three managers have picked him so he has to be doing something right.”

The two-time Leinster SFC winning manager had Gavin and his selector Declan Darcy as assistants in the U21s in 2003 when they won an All-Ireland title together. But he wished he had them as players.

“People often ask me what did I regret about Dublin in 2002; I regret I didn’t have Jim Gavin and Declan Darcy three or four years younger because they had huge leadership skills on the pitch and off the pitch and in the dressing room and they were just standout people as individuals. I was delighted to get them on board in 2003. The kids were just eating out of Jim’s hand. He has that presence and he’s a very disciplined guy and he doesn’t ask you to do something he wouldn’t do himself. He’s a really good guy.”

He doesn’t think Gavin has been given enough credit for the sophistication of Dublin’s attacking style. “They are not playing it off the hoof as much as people think. They are playing with a freshness but I don’t think they are playing with wild abandon, I think people are getting carried away with the wild abandon bit. I think you rarely see them being over-exposed. There is rarely four players running on two or three.”

Lyons has been most impressed by Diarmuid Connolly’s work rate this summer, his run to catch out Tomás Ó Sé from a Stephen Cluxton break being his standout moment of the season.

“People say Connolly won’t do this and he won’t do that. To me that is the biggest thing I have ever seen him do on a pitch. I would say he is probably benefiting a bit from the fact that Jim is more remote from him than maybe (St Vincent’s club-mate) Pat Gilroy was in his time.”