TEAM LEADER Mayo's Aidan O'Shea is pictured during last December's All-Ireland SFC Final. Pic: Sportsfile
Mike Finnerty
MAYO’S preparations for the new GAA season received an early setback last night (Tuesday) when Aidan O’Shea suffered a worrying knee injury during their first collective training session of the year.
The Mayo squad were training together at MacHale Park in Castlebar for the first time since Covid-19 restrictions on senior inter-county teams were lifted on Monday.
The Mayo News understands that O’Shea sustained the injury innocuously during a training game. He subsequently walked off the field.
The 30 year-old from Breaffy will be assessed by Mayo's medical team in the coming days and is expected to undergo a scan to assess the full extent of the injury later this week.
Mayo begin the defence of their Connacht SFC title in just over nine weeks’ time away to Sligo.
O’Shea, who has won three All Star awards, hasn’t missed a senior championship game for Mayo since the 2012 Connacht SFC semi-final win over Leitrim.
He has played in 58 consecutive championship matches since, and captained Mayo to their first Connacht SFC title since 2015 last November.
Jason Doherty is currently rehabilitating from a torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) in his right knee.
That injury also occurred during a training session with Mayo last October.
It came just 14 months after Doherty had torn the ACL in his left knee during the course of the All-Ireland SFC ‘Super 8s’ game against Donegal in Castlebar in early August of 2019.
Colm Boyle also suffered what was understood to be serious cruciate ligament damage to his knee during a National League match against Dublin at MacHale Park on January 28 last year.
He returned to club championship action with Davitts six months later, but didn’t play competitively for Mayo after getting injured last year.
Mayo begin their National League Division 2 'northern section' campaign at home to Down on Saturday, May 15 with Westmeath and Meath also in their group.
