Aidan O’Shea warming to life after injury

Aidan O’Shea was 25 when forced to call time on his playing career.

The groin was no longer an issue, but the hips simply refused to play ball. There had been four surgeries, including a consultation in America. Months on end were spent on treatment tables, countless rehab programmes meticulously adhered to. Still, no joy. At 31, O’Shea now finds himself wearing the bainisteoir’s bib for his native Glenbeigh/Glencar. He’d never really considered management. Not this young, anyway. Indeed, were he fit and healthy, there is no question but that he’d be lining out at midfield in tomorrow’s Munster club JFC final.

He played with the vast majority of the team he now looks after, while himself, Daniel Murphy, Joe McGuillicuddy, Darran O’Sullivan and Fergal Griffin – the latter two are still going - were the five Glenbeigh/Glencar representatives on the starting Mid Kerry team which won the 2008 county championship.

That’s an afternoon he’s unlikely to ever forget. Seventy-three seconds into second-half stoppages, he was beckoned to the edge of the opposition square after Kerins O’Rahillys’ John O’Connor upended Ian Twiss. Then 23, the son of legendary Kerry footballer, Jack, dispatched the penalty to snatch victory for the divisional outfit 1-7 to 0-9. He’d make his league and championship debuts for Kerry the following year, ending 2009 with league and All-Ireland championship medals in the back pocket.

Injury kept him out of the Kingdom set-up in 2010 and his club involvement gradually ground to a halt.

“After I stopped playing because of persistent hip problems, I stepped away. There was a period when I couldn’t even bring myself to go to matches,” admits the secondary school teacher. He re-entered the fray last year as a selector, the club reaching a second county junior final in three seasons. Just as was the case in 2013 against Keel, they came up short, losing out to Templenoe by 1-14 to 1-6.

O’Shea stepped up to the top role for the current campaign and opted for a different approach. “Trying to win the junior had become such a big thing for this club. This year, we never mentioned the word junior. We turned a blind eye to it. In the county final, we had to play the final 25 minutes with 13 and still came away with a draw against Na Gaeil. Mind you, we didn’t get a whole pile of credit for that and it stuck in our craw. We got over the line second day.”

Gerald Griffins of Limerick were subsequently overcome in the Munster semi-final and now a month after capturing their first Kerry junior crown, they bid for Munster glory. “Dr Crokes and Kenmare won Munster last week so that does add pressure. You don’t want to be the Kerry club who doesn’t win Munster. By the same token, we are representing Glenbeigh/Glencar firs. The way we look at it is we played Beaufort in Beaufort in the Mid Kerry semi-final last Saturday. We lost 0-17 to 0-14. We want to finish 2016 on a high. Gabriel Rangers are serious opposition. They’ve scored 20 goals in 11 matches. They are a dangerous team with serious momentum.”

Irrespective of how tomorrow goes, the right move to get back involved with the club? “Like in every club, this job will fall your way at some stage and when it does, you have to give it a spin. It’s challenging, but when you’re winning, it makes everything that bit easier.”