Even if it is at the expense of his little brother Conor, you would imagine Aidan O’Shea is mad to start against Sligo on Sunday.
The Mayo man has this week, once again, found himself at the centre of a media kerfuffle not of his making. Once more his commitment to the cause is being questioned. His attitude is under the spotlight and doubts are expressed about his mentality.
No wonder the 26-year-old sought some winter fitness on the hardwood courts of the EJ Sligo All-Stars – as well as keeping him busy it will have helped him practice his rebounds. God knows he has to make enough.
They have appeared in three All-Ireland finals in the last five years https://t.co/W8qe7V8ulW
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) May 19, 2017
He had to rebound after his former managers Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly singled him out during a wide-ranging interview about the unhappy end to their spell in charge of Mayo.
He had to rebound after copping some very unfair abuse in the wake of Mayo’s All-Ireland final replay defeat to Dublin.
He had to rebound after he won Mayo a penalty against Fermanagh last summer.
Even winning an All-Star seems to anger some out there.
Ever since he started writing a Leaving Cert diary in The Irish Times, O’Shea has exhibited a contentment in the public eye that does not sit right with a lot of people.
So, former Meath star Bernard Flynn’s comments on RTE’s GAA podcast were not exactly a bolt from the blue. O’Shea is hugely popular with young fans, he is arguably the most marketable footballer in Ireland and he also happens to be really, really good.
He is also a bit of a marmite player – with some simply not warming to the star.
Arguments about whether or not he is as good as Michael Murphy seem a little manufactured. The fact he is mentioned in the same breath suggests he is one of the best players in the country.
I saw him play midfield for DIT when they beat UCC in the 2013 Sigerson Cup final and he gave an immense, selfless performance around the middle. Fetching ball, breaking ball, carrying ball, tackling, tracking, harassing.
His midfield partner David Givney scored 1-2 on that day in Athlone and rightly carried the plaudits. O’Shea has played a similar role for Mayo on countless occasions – happily playing his part for the team, plugging gaps, carrying water.
Yet, he poses for a few pictures after a challenge match against Meath in Mullingar and his commitment to the cause is questioned once again.
“At the very end of the match the Mayo players got round in a circle and O’Shea had finished the match with the 15 that had finished. There were 15, 20 kids around and he signed autographs.
“The team was in a circle 10 yards away. No one asked him to leave what he was doing. Every other player was in a circle in a huddle talking; he was left outside the ring and allowed do what he wanted.
“He decided then after a while to come into the ring when all the photographs were finished, which I found absolutely incredible. They did a warmdown and the same thing happened.”
Admittedly, O’Shea could probably have done with being in that huddle but, have you ever watched O’Shea after the full-time whistle of a Mayo match?
It is like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, as children flock to the Breaffy man for autographs and selfies. Before the referee has collected the O’Neills, O’Shea is invariably mobbed by starstruck fans.
Any journalists looking to talk to O’Shea after a match know they will have to wait, as the Mayo man is normally the last player off the field as he signs jerseys and poses for pictures.
Unfortunately, it seems O’Shea is not alone, with GAA stars all over the country suffering from severe cases of popularity.
There is promising young Kerry midfielder Kieran Donaghy signing a programme back in 2006… What a weapon he could have been for the Kingdom had the popularity not caught him.
Darran O’Sullivan, another flash Kerry Dan, not doing a warm down.
Cork goalkeeper Anthony Nash making some young fans’ days there… a blight on the GAA.
Lee Chin, the poster boy of Wexford hurling. Not an All-Ireland medal in sight.
Veteran Alan Dillon proving that O’Shea is not the only Mayo footballer interacting with supporters.
Davy Glennon signing hurls, not warming down, bringing shame on Galway hurling.
There is Henry Shefflin at it too. Shame, he could have made something of his career.
There is much hand-wringing about keeping GAA in the “shop window”, tackling the professional charms of rugby and soccer, yet when footballers and hurlers rise to rugby/soccer levels of fame we try to hack them down with our tall poppy scythes.
What makes Aidan O’Shea’s fame all the more remarkable are the number of prominent voices out there that seem so horrified by it.
Being defaced seems to come with the territory of being a GAA poster boy.
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