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GAA

06th May 2025

Former Mayo star incredulous over county’s use of Aidan O’Shea

Colman Stanley

He was highly critical.

Galway marched to a fourth Connacht SFC title in a row, with Sunday’s win over Mayo in Castlebar.

It was an excellent game, but one man who wasn’t quite at his best was Mayo’s Aidan O’Shea.

The much-maligned forward is one of the top players in the country when on song, but has been criticised in the past for not producing in the biggest matches.

Blessed with an athletic, 6ft 4in frame, he can be an utter handful when used correctly, and with the new GAA laws, such as the 3v3 and 2-point rules, allowing attacking players a lot more space, there is scope for Mayo to get even more out of him this championship.

After the game, former Mayo star and teammate of O’Shea, Pádraig O’Hora, criticised the coaches for not utilising him correctly on the weekend.

Speaking on the Smaller Fish podcast, he said: “Like, it’s so simple, so straightforward.

“IIf there was ever a tactic, long and hard, do you know what I mean? And you have the guy to collect it for you all day.

“I’m surprised, I really am.You’d expect to see him in there, because there’s very few people who can stop him, in that regard, when a decent ball comes into the space.

“He didn’t have his brightest day there today, and he was well guarded.

“But in on the 14-yard line, he’s an awful, awful danger, and I just don’t understand it, I really don’t.

“He’s slightly different in the sense of, you could kind of get away with just lumping the ball in.

“Most guys need the kind of spinner that Kerry provided, the floater, some nice positive ball that gives the attacker a 60 or 70 percent chance.

“Aido doesn’t really need that, you can just kind of send it in there somewhere and he’ll usually get to it.

“So I don’t know, we don’t have the answers here.”

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