Cool Blue Philly McMahon unfazed by Mayo’s Aidan O’Shea
Last Saturday evening, when Mayo were busy confirming an All-Ireland semi-final date with McMahon’s Dublin at Donegal’s expense, the defender was blissfully unaware, out shopping with his girlfriend.
It’s perhaps stretching credulity when you ask him how the Dublin full-back line might handle man mountain Aidan O’Shea and he retorts: “I haven’t seen Aidan O’Shea playing this year.” But you get the point — McMahon is all about himself and Dublin and their own journey.
Shortly, he will begin the process of attuning himself to Mayo’s challenge though his will to win won’t have anything to do with thwarting O’Shea or indeed Mayo. Rather, the two-time All-Ireland medallist has a huge desire to finally complete an entire All-Ireland winning campaign as a first-team regular, something he failed to do in either 2011 or 2013.
“I look back on 2013 when we won the All-Ireland and think, ‘well, what else could I have done? Could I have played all those games?’” McMahon says.
“That’s something that hopefully this year or the year after I’ll get the chance to do. I’d really like to play all the games throughout a campaign and win an All-Ireland. I haven’t done that yet so that’s a big thing for me.”
McMahon did start the 2013 final defeat of Mayo though he was only recalled for that tie after coming on as an early sub for Kevin O’Brien in the semi-final and impressing.
That final was noteworthy for the amount of injuries picked up by Dublin players: Rory O’Carroll and Jonny Cooper suffered concussion, Eoghan O’Gara ripped his hamstring, and McMahon was left sporting a shiner.
If it sounds like a grudge match, McMahon isn’t so sure.
“I didn’t find it overly physical to be honest, I got a bang, an elbow, and I was left with a little scar for it but it was a typical All-Ireland final I thought.
“The one I played in (2011) was probably more physical. It’s normally the backs giving out the bumps and the bruises but we took them for the team in 2013. It was all to get the piece of tin, I suppose.”
The most recent competitive tie between the counties was last March in the Allianz League. A Dublin side with just one win from their opening four games found inspiration in Mayo and conjured a 2-18 to 0-10 win.
“We’d played a couple of teams before that game and they were very defensive,” says McMahon. “Mayo decided to go very offensive against us and left a lot of space at the back. It just clicked nicely in that game for us but they are not going to do anything like that now, there’s no way it’ll happen.”
Both Dublin and Mayo will come to the semi-final as five-in-a-row provincial champions. Dublin, crucially, have stashed two All-Ireland wins away in that time while Mayo are still chasing their dream.
“Would I be getting desperate if I was them? I wouldn’t be getting desperate, I’d say I’d be getting more hungry,” suggests the Ballymun Kickhams man. “We lost the 2010 semi-final and won it in 2011, so you get to that stage where you say, ‘right, what do we need to do when we got to the (final)... I suppose experience is massive, isn’t it? I’d say they’ve only grown in terms of experience after their losses.”
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