O’Connor says Mayo’s style has earned new respect
The two-time young footballer of the year, whose two sideline points against Cork were vital in Mayo securing a league semi-final, believes the wider GAA public have greater respect for James Horan’s side.
“I’d say they probably have to a degree,” said O’Connor of how the view of Mayo has been altered. “Some people’s opinions would have changed but it’s hard to change people’s opinions unless you go and win and All-Ireland. We’ve gained a bit of respect over the past couple of years from the way we’ve played and a couple of big wins.”
In January, Horan responded to Joe Brolly’s pre-All-Ireland final claims of Mayo being a cynical team. O’Connor is only worried about such comments if they impress on referees. “The only time it becomes a problem or it would irk me is if it’s painting a picture of us that’s going to negatively affect our chances in a game.”
O’Connor can understand how some may see the black card next year aiding a team like Mayo who have a lot of natural footballers.
However, he understands it could also count against them: “I think it’s going to be interesting, the black card. I’m not sure exactly who’ll benefit from it until we actually see it in action. We have plenty of footballers but every defender is capable of a cynical foul in a game. It’s hard to interpret which are cynical and which aren’t. You could say it’ll probably suit us but in today’s game every county has a couple of flair footballers.”
Although Mayo’s Connacht quarter-final against Galway is five weeks from Sunday, O’Connor doesn’t believe they will be taking the Division 1 semi-final against Dublin less seriously than last year’s game when they had a break until June 24 to begin their Championship.
“I know myself the atmosphere in front of the Dubs can be daunting. It’ll be good to be exposed to that and then hopefully come May and the summer we’ll have had that in the bank and it’ll stand to us.”
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