Aidan O'Shea has been a dominant midfielder, a roving 11, a target man inside, playmaker, he's even done a job at full-back, but Mayo's greatest need now is for a left-footed scorer.
So far this championship, Ryan O'Donoghue has accounted for 51% of Mayo's total. Contrast that with Paul Mannion top scoring for Dublin with just 20% heading into their Leinster final.
Within a rotational attack, with Cillian O'Connor on his way back to full fitness and Tommy Conroy still finding his best form, O'Donoghue has been the clear go-to man with 1-20 in two games. Of that tally, 1-07 has been from play or marks.
O'Shea, on the other hand, has not yet attempted to kick a point from play in the 2024 championship, yet he's still their second top-scorer from play and overall. He's scored a free, fisted a point, buried a goal and had another shot at goal saved.
His 1-01 against Roscommon was decisive in putting Mayo into Sunday's Connacht final, and a glimpse of what he is capable of. Yes Mayo need to kick in more ball to O'Shea, yes he will create for others, but that alone will not be enough to turn Mayo into All-Ireland contenders.
Aside from contesting eight kickouts or throw balls so far in Mayo's two opening games, 30% of O'Shea's involvements were still outside of the opposition 45. While inside, he had nine involvements within the opposition 13m line. And received nine kick passes in the forward line. Both positive signs of improved variation in how Mayo attack and utilise O'Shea under Kevin McStay. Albeit the end product of 71% of his combined 50 involvements was a handpass.
The eight-time Connacht winner's instinct has always been to pass rather than shoot, which is why he is so quick and sharp particularly with his hands. The ultimate team player, in terms of graft, tackling, putting his body on the line, and always giving the ball to the man in the best position – O'Shea's role since transitioning into the inside line has been more provider than finisher.
But now Mayo need something different. Others aren't scoring enough for him to be solely a link man, and Mayo's attack currently lacks a balance which he's best qualified to provide.
The Breaffy man is the only left footer in the starting Mayo forward line or midfield. So far in this championship almost 30% of their shots have been from the right side of their attack, with 65% coming down the centre.
Mayo are a running team, with most of their attacks stemming from counters, or overlaps – and with all the right-sided players these are naturally down the centre and/or to their right. Most scores in this case require hard running, finishing on the run, and shooting from often unfavourable angles.
Which is where O'Shea is needed. Despite the likes of Fergal Boland fancying the angle on the right, this is a left footer's side. Mayo need O'Shea positioned deep or wide, coming out and taking the ball on the loop to shoot. Often from close range, requiring some selfishness and single mindedness. Just as he did for his goal against Roscommon, although against a meaner defence, he should've taken his point much earlier.
These are positions, however, where he is most often taking the ball square and becoming predictable with his passing. Or he is out the field himself as the team opt to play through the hands.
All of this is reflected in Mayo's scoring average over the past two years of league and championship which is 1-13. Dublin's is 2-14.
Overall Mayo have had 10 scorers, and 14 shooters in reaching the Connacht final, with the lively Fergal Boland having by far the most number of shots after O'Donoghue. Boland has scored 0-03 off seven attempts while O'Donoghue alone has accounted for 38% of Mayo's shots, scoring all but one of his 22. Giving him a 95% shooting accuracy. O'Shea has 1-02 of a possible 1-03. Neither have missed a free.
From the right side of their attack Mayo have converted just 53% of their shots - none of which from their only left footed starting forward - as opposed to 78% down the centre. The faith McStay has shown in O'Shea by giving him frees on the right hand side highlights his shooting ability but he needs to want to score in order to score more consistently.
Looking back to Kieran Donaghy as the stereotypical target man and Eoghan O'Gara for Dublin - both contributed scores as well as assists. In the 2017 championship O'Gara finished with 2-03 from play, scoring in all four of his appearances in winning the All-Ireland, while Donaghy scored 4-04 across his three All-Ireland final showings.
O'Shea is a much more traditional midfielder converted into a forward, and still floats out regularly. So far this championship he has assisted five scores on top of 1-02 (0-01f). However, in the league he managed just 0-04 (0-02f) from six games, meaning his scoring average for 2024 from play is currently less than a point per game.
He's played 12 times in championship against Galway, failing to score in the past seven meetings and only managing 0-02 in total. He's scored 1-06 when you include the eight league games he featured in against the Tribesmen. So again, less than a point per game average.
In his 16th season it's hard to ask more of O'Shea after all those years of soldiering in the green and red, across so many challenging roles.
Yet in his second season of starting regularly in the inside line, if Mayo are to push on he'll need to keep adapting, and most importantly scoring.
Watch the Connacht Football Championship final, Galway v Mayo, on Sunday from 3.40pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to updates on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
