'I'm only 34 years of age, there are players playing high-level sport a lot longer'

NEWLY MARRIED and with 16 seasons of Mayo senior football behind him, nobody would have blamed Aidan O’Shea for eyeing the exit door last winter.

He needed a bit of minor surgery too and was going to be taking all of January off for an extended honeymoon in Australia and the Maldives.

But here he is, 34, still going strong and looking forward to another Allianz League final. Close pal Rob Hennelly, Cillian O’Connor, Michael Plunkett, Padraig O’Hora and Conor McStay all opted to leave over winter.

Yet the evergreen O’Shea, who made his seasonal return in Round 3 against Tyrone, has started the last three games and it would be a surprise if he didn’t line out again on Sunday against Kerry at Croke Park.

“Look, I think with me, for some reason, it seems to be (people) waiting for me to say that I’m not playing anymore,” said O’Shea. “That’s been there for a long time. But the reality is I’m only 34 years of age, there are players playing high-level sport a lot longer, well into their 30s, and if you look after yourself right there’s no reason why that can’t continue for me.”

Cork hurler Patrick Horgan, two years older again, is in a similar boat to O’Shea — still hunting that elusive All-Ireland medal. Horgan was speaking just last week on the subject and said he won’t allow the All-Ireland element to define his career.

“I’ve seen a couple of things from Hoggy over the last 12 months, especially with Cork being in the (All-Ireland) final,” said O’Shea. “But yeah, it absolutely motivates me.

“I think he said this as well, that there has to be a little bit more to why you’re doing it than just the ultimate, ultimate prize. It’s definitely something that you still have ambitions to do, but for me, I’m obviously playing for a long time, I just think I still have a lot to offer the group. I think Mayo are on a good trajectory, and I’m going to try to be a part of that for as long as I can.”

Even for powerful attacker O’Shea, who has been playing for Mayo across three different decades, this year’s league campaign so far has been a standout one.

It wasn’t a particularly happy winter out west following a fruitless 2024, and manager Kevin McStay had to endure a county board review before being reappointed. Then Mayo lost their first two league games, the second of which was a 10-point hammering by Galway. Nobody was talking about a league final at that stage.

Much of the early criticism centred on Mayo’s apparent failure to embrace the new rules, with Galway kicking two pointers for fun in that Round 2 game and also displaying innovation off the new throw-in.

“Has anybody embraced them?” said O’Shea of the new rules. “Has anybody figured it out perfectly? I don’t think so. I mean, they changed them halfway through the league as well to go from 12 v 11 to 11 v 11. The 3 v 3 has changed, and the four back has changed.

“Look, I think there are a lot of things going on. Were we perfect on the rules early doors? I don’t think any team was. We were in the same boat. We had a lot of players coming into inter-county football for the first time, never mind having to deal with new rules. So I think it (criticism) probably was a little bit harsh.

“We just weren’t good enough in the first two games to get over the line. We could easily have won the first day, but we weren’t good enough the second day out.

“The next day, against Tyrone, I don’t think it was a case of us getting a handle on the rules any better, if that’s the barometer of how we won that game. We were just better on the day than Tyrone, and we’ve improved our performances.”

The last time Mayo reached the Division 1 final, they beat Galway in 2023, but subsequently lost to Roscommon in the opening round of the Championship. This year, they’ll play Sligo in Connacht a week after the league decider.

“We were probably in a different spot back then,” said O’Shea of 2023. “We had a lot of injuries that time. We had no complaints in terms of we were beaten by the better team against Roscommon that time. But I think we’re in a good spot coming into this weekend and the following weekend. We ultimately know that we’re going to be going after that game against Sligo at home.”

Win or lose on Sunday, there’ll still be some O’Sheas smiling. His parents are from Kerry, and his father’s native club is Laune Rangers in Killorglin. O’Shea’s wife, Kristin, is from Tralee.

“She’s a Rockie,” he smiled, indicating her Austin Stacks’ status. “Ah, it’ll be straightforward enough — she’ll be wearing Mayo colours. There won’t be too many arguments on that. But yeah, there’ll be a few cousins and aunts and uncles who will be on the fence for sure. Some not so much. But it’s good, all good fun.”