The Mayo News

FOOTBALL Not since the days of Jimmy Maughan and Ronan Golding has there been so much talk about a Mayo minor footballer. Mike Finnerty catches up with Aidan O’Shea Something like a phenomenon


St Gerald’s captain is feeling no pressure

Mikr Finnerty

NOT since the halcyon days of Jimmy Maughan and Ronan Golding has there been so much talk about a Mayo minor footballer. So when you finally meet Aidan O’Shea for a chat ahead of next Sunday’s Connacht Colleges final, you can’t help but wonder what he’ll be like when the interview starts.
Thankfully, for those worried about the future of Mayo football, the 18 year old Leaving Cert student from Breaffy seems as solid, grounded, and mature as any teenager blessed with above-average ability.
Still, it’s easy to see what all the fuss is about. O’Shea, the public face of last year’s Mayo minor team that reached the All-Ireland final, stands at 6’4” tall and tips the scales at just under 16 stone. He is the captain of the St Gerald’s senior team, and has already lined out with the Mayo U-21 and senior teams this year. There is rarely, if ever, a dull moment.
“I think everybody that’s involved, myself, my parents, and the different managers, have been helping each other,” he explains. “John O’Mahony hasn’t put any pressure on me to be at training and Pat Holmes has been good about it too, but the school is my priority at the moment. We want to get as far as we can. After that, we’ll be building up to the U-21s and we’ll just take it from there.
“My Leaving Cert is very important to me too,” he adds. “I’d like to go to DCU next year to study Accounting and Finance so there’s a bit of work to be done yet. A few hours have to be put in and I know my mother will be delighted I mentioned the Leaving Cert!”
The gargantuan teenager is good company. He turns 19 in June and is well aware that people who have never met him are still forming opinions all over the county. His performances at Croke Park last summer made people sit up and take notice and, you presume, that brings its own pressure at this level.
“There’s no real pressure,” he shrugs. “We’re a team of good buddies who go to school together every day, and it’s not very often we get to play together. Usually we’re coming up against each other in West Mayo championships, so it’s a great chance to come together and try and win something. We have some serious footballers and it’s about time we won something. I’m just part of that team.
“We have a great crew of young fellas, a lot of them aren’t too well-known, but a lot of them will be Mayo minors next summer.”
Ironically, O’Shea never met his own high standards during St Gerald’s extra-time win over St Jarlath’s in the semi-final. He posted three points (two from frees) but didn’t command the game like most people expected. The man himself knows there is room for improvement.
“We made fierce hard work of it alright,” he says. “We dominated most of the game but couldn’t score and 23 wides says it all really. I thought our defence was very good though and any time you beat Jarlath’s, you have to be happy. A win is a win, but we won’t beat Colman’s kicking 23 wides, we have an awful lot of work to do yet.”
If St Gerald’s do win out next weekend, Aidan O’Shea will be the first student from the school to lift the Aonghus Murphy Cup since Ballintubber’s John Feeney in 1997. Not surprisingly, for a bright, articulate, young man, he explains what it would mean to him succinctly.
“It would be a huge achievement to lift the trophy next weekend. You spend six years in a school, and there are a lot of very good footballers gone through who didn’t get the chance to win this competition. It would be a massive honour for me to captain the team and I know it would mean an awful lot to everybody in the school.”

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