Aidan O’Shea found out before anyone else that Alan Dillion was going to retire from inter-county duty.
The pair may be teammates but are friends first and foremost and O’Shea revealed that, on a recent trip to Chicago, the 35-year-old said he was going to call it a day.
After serving Mayo for 18 years, including his minor career, Dillon retired with a host of accolades:
- 8 Senior Connacht Championships.
- 2 GAA All-Stars 2006/2012.
- 2 U-21 Connacht Championships.
- 2 Minor Connacht Championships.
- 1 All-Ireland Inter-County Vocational Schools Title.
- 3 Mayo GAA County Senior Titles with Ballintubber.
After 134 appearances in the red & green jersey @Alan_Dillon has today announced his intercounty retirement. #mayogaa #oneofthegreats https://t.co/QRux5RnB2N pic.twitter.com/r4ki1pcbyv
— Mayo GAA (@MayoGAA) November 28, 2017
And it’s clear that O’Shea held his teammate in high regard:
“I’d be close to Alan,” O’Shea said.
“I work with him and he lives down the road from me as well. I’ve gotten very close to Alan over the last nine or ten years.
“I was in Chicago with him a couple of weeks ago and he would have informed me then that he’d be making his decision. He let the group know this morning before the press release.”
But it’s clear O’Shea is going to miss Dillon’s presence at training:
“It’s sad to see him go because he’s obviously a really, really good footballer. I looked up to him as a young fella, got to play with him and now obviously a very good friend of his.
“Classy player, one of the smartest players I’ve ever played with and a great passer of a ball, he always spotted things. A big loss to us, obviously gutted for him that we didn’t get over the line while he was a part of the squad and it’s just sad to see him go.”
The Breaffy club man, who also picked up his third All-Star award this year, took to Instagram as well to praise Dillon.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcCubC8nym_/?hl=en&taken-by=aidoxi
Dillon released a statement this morning explaining his decision:
“Everyone has their time and my time has come…..Today I wish to announce my inter-county retirement from the Mayo Senior Football Team,” Dillon’s statement reads.
“Playing the game, representing this team, giving my all and never letting go has meant everything to me. If asked to write a script for my career back in 2003, there is no way I would’ve been able to imagine this journey but now I feel it’s the right time to step away.
“The wins and losses will be remembered, but what I’ll remember most are all my team-mates who I can never give enough credit to from over the years. I have played with some of the best players to ever line out in the red and green of Mayo and have also had the honour of captaining this great county.
“I was very fortunate to have played under so many fantastic Mayo managers all of whom contributed greatly to my career and I would like to extend my sincere thanks to them all for putting faith in me as a footballer.”
Mayo’s manager, Stephen Rochford, was also full of praise for Mayo’s former captain calling him a “pleasure to work with.”
“Alan’s talent was evident from a very young age and he was rightly heralded as a future star by his mid teens. There was huge versatility to his game. And all of this underpinned by a powerful determination, and an unyielding desire to win and to progress, that he showed each and every time he put on the Ballintubber or Mayo jersey. Alan Dillon won the admiration of GAA fans from all over Ireland and he leaves the inter-county stage with his head held high.
“As Mayo manager for the past two seasons, it has been a pleasure to work with him and I know that he will continue to make a telling contribution to his club and county in the years ahead. On behalf of the Mayo team and management, I wish him the very best.”
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