O’Shea hungry for ultimate success
Whilst Mayo go into Sunday’s clash with reigning All-Ireland champions Cork as 5/1 underdogs, O’Shea insists that the All-Ireland quarter-final should be looked on as the start of their year, not the end of it.
“It wasn’t, and it isn’t, our ultimate goal to win a Connacht title,” said the Killorglin-born midfielder.
“It was only a goal along the road and we’ve achieved that. We’re a bit more ambitious than just a Connacht title. I’m 21 years of age and I’ve already won two of them. I don’t really care if I ever win another Connacht title, there’s more important things to be won.
“The ‘bonus territory’ talk is probably a perception that’s out there among the public in Mayo but it comes back to the work we’ve done mentally earlier in the year. We’re ambitious and we have a very ambitious management team. Connacht titles are good to win, don’t get me wrong, but we want to move on, get up to Croke Park and perform up there.”
Mayo’s last championship appearance in Croke Park was their 2009 All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Meath, a game many felt they left behind them. It led to some questions about their ability to perform in Croke Park but O’Shea argues things have changed and the venue holds no fears for this team.
“The Meath game was two years ago, there’s a lot of new boys, a completely new backroom team, and I think there’s huge drive and ambition about the group,” he declared.
“Boys are champing at the bit to get a place on the team now for the quarter-final and the competition for places is something we might not previously have had.
“In years gone by, the team was always fairly clear and boys on the fringes were coming into training and not really pushing themselves because they knew that they weren’t going to make the team.
“That’s not the case now, James Horan is willing to chop and change.”
O’Shea does recoil at talk of Mayo football and Connacht football in general being at a low ebb.
“There is a perception out there that any time Mayo do anything, it is nearly by accident that we do it. We did overlook London and were lucky to get out of it but Galway was always the game for us. People said we would lose to them but we stopped them in their tracks and kept them to just one point in the second half.
“Roscommon, then, were the form team, supposedly. They won the Connacht title last year, were a settled outfit and had very good forwards but we stopped them too, keeping them to just two points in the second half. It is not by chance that Mayo won the Connacht title.
“We’re working very hard as a team. We’ve worked a lot on breaking ball, something we’ve probably failed on in the past and we’ve worked hard to keep a good structure, to make it hard for teams to break us down.
“I think Connacht football gets a bad name but I don’t think people realise how bad the conditions were in the Connacht final. I’ve never played in conditions like it. It was a pure battle and we were up for it.”
O’Shea will line out in midfield with his brother Séamus for the third consecutive game and the sons of Kerry parents will no doubt relish a crack at Cork. Former Mayo midfielder David Brady questioned the partnership before the Galway game on Newstalk with the memorable line “the O’Sheas have probably slept together but never played together”.
The younger of the brothers laughs at the line and admits he’s enjoying playing with his brother and, more so, playing at midfield after an inconsistent time at full-forward.
“The opposite of what Brady says is true — and he should know because he’s probably played against us often enough at club level,” chuckles Aidan O’Shea. “We have an understanding when we play together, we keep to our sides and he’ll give me a bollocking if I do something wrong and I’ll give him one back.
“I’m enjoying it much more at midfield. I’m in physically better shape and I’d take midfield any day before full-forward.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
