O’Shea blasts ‘noise’ and ‘silliness’ over Mayo senior team review

AIDAN O’Shea has described commentary around the review in the Mayo senior team’s 2024 season as ‘noise’ and ‘silliness’.

Speaking following Breaffy’s one-point championship quarter-final win over Westport, O’Shea suggested that the review of the 2024 season should have taken place sooner.

Several county board delegates expressed disquiet over the review process earlier this month, with one delegate claiming the players were said to be ‘up in arms’.

Mayo GAA have since announced that Kevin McStay will remain on as Mayo manager for the 2025 season.

“There’s been a lot of noise and a lot of silliness going on over the last couple of months. I don’t understand why things couldn’t be boxed off and moved forward into 2025 like every other county is doing,” said O’Shea.

“It is what it is, we are where we are, we are moving forward into a new year and we are looking forward to whoever in that squad is, we’re all looking forward to it.”

The Breaffy man, who made his Mayo senior debut in 2009, indicated that he would like to wear the green and red for another season.

“It’s funny when you’re playing club games people would be laughing at you about Mayo, and you’re not playing for Mayo any more. Nobody’s playing for Mayo right now. You’ve got to prove yourself out here in the club pitch to try and get picked again,” said the 34-year-old.

“I want to play, so hopefully my club form justifies that. I’m going to be off; I’m away for the month of January so we’ll see after that what happens.”

Looking forward to this week’s county semi-finals, O’Shea said he was ‘looking forward’ to playing in MacHale Park, where he has spent time kicking in recent weeks.

““We’ve lost six or seven from last year’s team and we’re still battling here to try and compete for a county final,” he said.

“It’s been a change from last year, we got everyone together and a relegation play-off in the league. We want that and we’ve gone unbeaten since. So we’ve had a bit of a tight-knit group, boys working hard for each other and it’s amazing what you can do when you put a couple of months together and when you get to a county semi-final. You’ve got to go enjoy it.”

The three-time All-Star praised the home quarter-final bonus for championship group winners, which saw his club host Westport in Breaffy in front of a packed crowd on Sunday afternoon.

“I think it’s pretty cool, I think it’s a nice addition to the championship, I have to say. It made every game in the group stages count and having a home venue, most people that come to Breaffy [say] there’s a lovely little atmosphere in our pitch.”