Mark O’Mahony stuck in the ‘shadows’ at Portsmouth despite goal
Mark O’Mahony got a monkey off his back at the weekend as he returned to action for Portsmouth with a crucial goal.
The Brighton & Hove Albion loanee has spent a significant period on the sidelines this season as he looks to develop in the Championship, netting his third of the season and second against Oxford United on Saturday (15 February).
O’Mahony has struggled for game time even when fit, especially since the November return of Colby Bishop to a single-pronged forward line-up from John Mousinho.
O’Mahony has had ‘difficult’ time at Portsmouth
Ian Darke has given an honest verdict on O’Mahony since his arrival at Fratton Park on a season-long loan from which he will, now he is fit, be looking to reap more.
The TV commentator and Blues fan, speaking exclusively to Pompey News, believes Mousinho’s other Portsmouth strikers are some way off displacing Bishop, with the head coach very fixated on his 4-2-3-1 formation.
O’Mahony, 20, came to England in 2023 when he signed for Brighton from Cork City, and has since represented the Republic of Ireland Under-21 side.
“I do think the other strikers are quite a way off Bishop, especially with the injuries they’ve suffered with,” Darke admitted.
“I’m pleased for O’Mahony to get his goal, as he has had a difficult loan with injuries.
“He tries his heart out every time he’s played, but so far maybe lacks a little bit of the craft requiring him to be more than a shadow kind of striker.”
Mousinho and his striker selection
Bishop is undoubtedly first-choice at Portsmouth to lead the line and will remain so until the end of the season as long as he is available.
Elsewhere, it would likely be Kusini Yengi second in line once he is properly match fit, leaving O’Mahony clutching at straws for game time or having to force a spot out wide, where there remains plenty of options too.
It’s a difficult one for the young Irishman who has done little particularly wrong when he has played but is rather just slightly less established as a senior player, and for parent club Brighton.
Thomas Waddingham is also available and scored on his debut against West Brom on 25 January, but has arrived, in Darke’s words, “with L plates on” and will be a project for the future.
At least, now, Mousinho has a much larger selection pool in many key areas despite some of the injury blows which still plague his Portsmouth squad.