ALL-IRELAND SFC SEMI-FINAL MAYO v KERRY: IAN O'RIORDANprofiles the towering midfielder who has played a major role in Mayo's march to this year's semi-final
IN THE two years since Aidan O’Shea wrote a Leaving Cert Exam Diary for this newspaper – claiming, amongst other things, that the “Irish paper was so easy, I’m almost afraid to tell you how early I left the exam hall” – his football results haven’t always gone as expected.
Indeed his exam results may well have been the more satisfying.
It was this time two years ago, having just received the results of his Leaving Cert at St Gerald’s, Castlebar, that O’Shea’s debut championship campaign with Mayo came to an end: aged just 18, he’d made a fairly sensational impact in the full forward line, winning a first Connacht senior title, before the All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Meath, where he still scored 1-1.
“You haven’t heard the last of Aidan O’Shea,” he wrote in his final Exam Diary entry, in August 2009 – a self-deprecating comment of sorts, given he’d failed to get his first CAO choice, and in his own mind failed to see out that championship the way he’d expected.
On Wednesday, almost exactly two years on, writing in his The Middle Thirdcolumn for this newspaper, Darragh Ó Sé claimed "the two O'Shea's at midfield have been a revelation" – and that's a serious vote of approval.
When the best midfielder of his generation describes you as a “revelation” then you must be doing something right, and that has certainly been the case in recent weeks, not just for Aidan but also his older brother Séamus.
Together they form Mayo’s midfield partnership for Sunday’s All-Ireland football semi-final against Kerry, and part of their threat is that one can always outplay the other, depending on who might be receiving the closer attention.
“I really like that midfield partnership,” said Ó Sé, “very dogged, very physical. Aidan O’Shea tends to get more of the headlines but I actually think Séamus is the one who stands out.”
The O’Shea’s parents, Jim and Sheila, are both from Killorglin, and both players spent a part of their youth in Kerry. Both of the brothers had featured on and off during Mayo’s league campaign, yet when it came to their Connacht championship opener against London neither of them made the starting 15.
Then came the near shock of the summer, as London forced Mayo into extra-time – before eventually losing out 0-19 to 2-10. Aidan O’Shea was introduced early on and helped steady what looking to be a sinking ship.
For manager James Horan, in his first season in charge, something drastic had to change for the Connacht semi-final against Galway. So in his redesigned team sheet he named the two O’Shea brothers at midfield. It worked a treat, as Mayo won by six points, and further wins over Roscommon and Cork have earned them this Sunday’s showdown with Kerry.
For Aidan O’Shea it was a timely return to form.
Long identified as a prodigious talent, he first played minor football with his club, Breaffy, when he was only 13.
He also won a Mayo under-21 B title with Breaffy aged just 18, before making his senior debut for Mayo early in the 2009 championship, scoring 1-3 on the at times perilous away trip to New York. He was still a month away from sitting his Leaving Cert.
Even the year before he’d been labelled as “the future of Mayo football”, after delivering a man-of-the-match display in the 2008 All-Ireland minor final against Tyrone, which went to a reply. Mayo eventually lost, but O’Shea had laid down a maker.
He was already 6ft 5in, weighing 15 stone – and hadn’t even begun weights training. His schoolboy sporting talents also included playing basketball for Ireland at age 10, and also soccer with Mayo in the Kennedy Cup aged 13 – although fortunately for Mayo, Gaelic football would always take priority.
There was a brief scare for Mayo at the end of 2009 when he went to Melbourne on a two-week trial with Western Bulldogs.
But he admitted afterwards it “broadened my horizons”, and it proved “bonus pre-season training, really, in terms of getting fit for next season with Mayo”.
However 2010 proved a disappointment. Then manager John O’Mahony clearly fancied O’Shea as a full forward, in the same design as Kieran Donaghy, but when Mayo crashed out of the Connacht championship to Sligo, O’Shea didn’t even start. He did start the subsequent qualifier defeat to Longford, but failed to score. It was the almost inevitable second-season syndrome.
This year didn’t begin auspiciously either when, in his final year at under-21, and as Mayo captain, O’Shea, back operating at midfield, endured a surprising defeat to Roscommon in the first round. Defeat merely strengthened his commitment to the senior team, but at least the game had once again showcased his talents as a midfielder.
The fright-night in Ruislip ultimately convinced Horan that O’Shea was best suited to midfield, and so too was his brother Séamus – or “Séamie”, as he’s better known – who was in midfield on the 2006 Mayo under-21 team that ended a horrendous All-Ireland losing streak for the county by beating Cork in the final.
For the younger O’Shea, who in the meantime has also completed two years of a degree in Logistics at DIT, the All-Ireland quarter-final win over Cork further cemented his role at midfield as he and his brother came out on top against the much-vaunted Rebel midfield.
Now, having just turned 21, O’Shea finds greater than ever pressure and expectation on his young shoulders, but if Darragh Ó Sé believes you’re up for it, what is there to worry about?
