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Mayo's Alan Freeman celebrates scoring from a penalty. INPHO/Ryan Byrne
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Fresh Faces - The trio that helped Mayo triumph against Tyrone

The addition of players has improved Mayo’s challenge this season.

IT FELL TO Ciaran Whelan last Sunday night to announce the nominees for The Sunday Game man-of-the-match award from that afternoon’s Mayo and Tyrone game.

Mayo’s victory meant it was not unusual that three of their players who filled the  slots.

And it was not unusual that the individual displays of towering midfielder Seamus O’Shea, attacking leader Alan Freeman and dynamic defender Chris Barrett were noted.

Freeman got the man-of-the-match award but what was striking was how that trio have become integral to Mayo’s performances in 2013. It’s in sharp contrast to last year.

When Donegal inflicted more All-Ireland final misery upon Mayo last September, Barrett did not feature in the game, Freeman was introduced with 20 minutes to go and O’Shea was brought on in the 69th minute.

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Mayo’s Seamus O’Shea dejected at the final whistle of last year’s All-Ireland final Pic: INPHO/James Crombie

Breaffy club man O’Shea (26), Bemullett’s Barrett (26) and Freeman from Aghamore (24) have been the fresh faces introduced by James Horan that have made a difference in 2013. And that was clearly visible to see in their latest accomplishment against Tyrone.

All three saw plenty exposure at underage level. Barrett and O’Shea lost a 2005 All-Ireland minor final to Down, along with U21 semi-final losses to Laois in 2007 and Kerry in 2008.

But they were there at right half-back and midfield respectively on a golden day in Ennis in May 2006 when a Mayo U21 team struck a significant blow for football in the county by taking an All-Ireland title against Cork.

Freeman did not enjoy such riches underage, his U21 campaigns fell short in 2009 against Down in an All-Ireland semi-final and in 2010 against Roscommon in a Connacht semi-final.

In 2010 then the trio were ushered into senior combat, a miserable and unforgiving time to be a Mayo senior footballer.

O’Shea and Freeman made their senior championship bows on June 5th that year as they slumped to defeat to Sligo.

Barrett joined them as a debutant in the starting line-up by the time Mayo were crashing out in the qualifiers against Longford three weeks later.

But three years on they are more established figures, representative of the changes undergone by the team and the maturity that has been accrued.

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Mayo’s Chris Barrett against Darren McCurry of Tyrone on Sunday Pic: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

On Sunday when Mayo were shorn of their brightest attacking talent through injury, Freeman stepped into the void created by Cillian O’Connor’s departure. He assumed the free taking duties with minimal fuss and nailed the crucial second-half penalty.

His previous penalty in championship for Mayo was when he scored on his debut against Sligo. Converting another spot kick was a seminal moment.

“I knew exactly what I was going to do with it,” says Freeman. “I struck it fairly well and got a good bit of power in it.

“Earlier on in the year when Cillian was out with his shoulder, I was taking frees. When Cillian was back for championship, obviously he’s so good at them, he was going to step back in.

“But I was more than happy for that. We practice together most training sessions before or after together. I’d enough practice done so I was happy to step in. I was confident taking them.”

The pre-match chat had honed in on the midfield battle between Aidan O’Shea and Sean Cavanagh, two players who form lines have been stunningly good this year.

Yet it was Aidan’s older brother Seamus who eclipsed them with his influence on the game.

“You have to go out and play your own game as well,” outlines O’Shea. “Them boys are good footballers but we’d to go out and impose our game on them. It was a tough battle.

“You’d like to think the experience of last year will help. We probably have a stronger panel. You see the boys coming in there. Richie (Feeney) came in and made a difference, Cathal Carolan and Barry Moran the same.

“Then you’ve Varley and Conroy up front, all these boys are helping. There’s going to be huge competition now in A v B games over next few weeks.”

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Mayo’s Seamus O’Shea at the final whistle yesterday Pic: INPHO/James Crombie

In the first-half when Mayo’s challenge was listing, it was Barrett who showed them the way. He popped up to show the assurance to land two great points and was defensively solid in curbing the threat of Darren McCurry.

“We made hard work out of it in the first-half,” admitted O’Shea. “We were slow out of the blocks and they were controlling the tempo a bit. I think we turned the screw a bit before half-time. Chrissy (Barrett) came forward and kicked a few good scores.”

They now all look forward to September 22nd and await the winners of next Sunday’s Dublin and Kerry clash. Twelve months ago O’Shea, Barrett and Freeman were on the periphery on All-Ireland final day. Now they will be the main men.

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