“My job is just to help out the team in whatever way I can, with whatever minutes I get.”
Aidan O’Shea, it seems, is as selfless a basketball player as he is when he lines out for Breaffy and Mayo.
The Mayo legend signed on with EJ’s Sligo All-Stars, a National League Division One outfit of Basketball Ireland, a little over a month ago and he has been making his mark. The All Stars are on a three-game winning streak in the league. That stretches to five games when cup victories are taken into account.
It is the cup run of his new team that has tempted O’Shea to stay on until the end of the season, or at least for long as possible.
“I was sitting at home one evening,” O’Shea told The Courtside Collective podcast, “and thought it would be good idea to go back and train and have a bit of fun.”
O’Shea feels he has got his feel for the game back and, at 6-foot-4 and 16-stone, he is well aware of the strengths he brings to the basketball court. “I’m never going to be the best three-point shooter in the world,” he remarked.
Welcome to @SligoAllStars @AIDOXI pic.twitter.com/DLhtb1v8Br
— ⭐️Ej Sligo All-Stars⭐️ (@SligoAllStars) November 3, 2016
Having been talked into a basketball return by Shane O’Mara, after a seven-year hiatus from the sport, the Mayo GAA star is having a great time. Training is just over an hour away from his Castlebar home, he is part of a talented team with some up-and-comers and he has rediscovered his love for the game.
It is the All Stars’ cup run that has O’Shea pondering a delay to his Mayo GAA return. The All Stars’ league season ends on March 11 while Mayo’s Allianz Leagues’ campaign starts on February 2 with a home tie against Monaghan.
Asked if he could finish the basketball season, O’Shea responded, “I don’t know yet.” He added:
“I have to work that one out yet. I’m enjoying it and Shane wants to keep me involved as long as possible. We’ve got a cup semi-final to look forward to, down in Neptune Stadium. When things are going well down in Sligo and you’re enjoying it, you don’t really want to give it up.
“I’ll have to talk with guys in Mayo and see if we can work something [out] but I’ll be looking to play for as long as I can.”
O’Shea’s conversation with the Mayo management team will be an interesting one, no doubt.
He has enjoyed a new lease of sporting life but, as so many often find, it is hard to leave a team when the journey starts to take hold.
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