History to come full circle for centurion O’Shea

The Western People edition of the first week in February 2009 was full of interesting titbits of sports news.

Former World boxing champion Barry McGuigan was announced as the newspaper’s special guest for the upcoming Mayo Sports Stars Awards while Cong cyclist David O’Loughlin, an Olympian from the previous year, had just been signed by the legendary Sean Kelly to ride for his An Post sponsored international team.

Someone called Stephen Rochford crossed over the whitewash right at the death to help his adopted Ballinrobe squeeze an 11-10 win over Corrib in the opening round of the Connacht Rugby Junior Cup while in Dublin, almost 80,000 people packed into Croke Park to mark the 125th anniversary of the GAA and watch the defending All-Ireland champions Tyrone once again exert their authority over Dublin in the opening round of the National Football League. How times were to change.

It was also the week that then GAA president Christy Cooney visited the early construction works at a redeveloping MacHale Park.

Addressing the attendance at the project’s fundraising launch in Castlebar, Cooney said it would “provide the country with its first all-seater stadium” and “set the standard for the association”. It was also said that Mayo GAA would have to repay around €9million over a 15 year period.

It’s 15 years now and Mayo still owe €7million or thereabouts. In fact, at the county convention last December it was said the outstanding debt would not be cleared for another 24 years. I doubt that’s what Cooney envisaged as setting the standard.

But, with the benefit of hindsight, none of the above was probably even the most interesting or noteworthy thing to feature in that week’s sports pages of the Western People, because it was also the week where was reported the debut of someone who, barring a meteor or ACL strike this month or next, will become the most capped Mayo footballer of all time. Indeed it will be a milestone moment in itself if Aidan O’Shea simply plays against Derry this St Patrick’s Day, as it would mark his 100th time to don the Green and Red in the National Football League. As coincidence would have it, his very first time to do so was against Derry as well.

The date was Sunday, February 1, 2009, and 18-year-old O’Shea, fresh out of minor, was sent in by manager John O’Mahony as a replacement for Trevor Mortimer after 52 minutes of Mayo’s opening round Division 1 match at James Stephens Park in Ballina. The other Mortimer, Conor, and Pat Harte had already been sprung from the bench to replace Billy Joe Padden and Tom Parsons while Mark Ronaldson, now of this parish, would later be introduced for Mikie Sweeney.

Sweeney, Ballina local Ger Cafferkey and Donal Vaughan were all starting their first senior games for Mayo while O’Shea’s second-half arrival brought that number of debutants to four. But the most important number was on the scoreboard which at full-time showed that Mayo had scored just 10 points, two short of Derry’s 1-9. The point that Andy Moran had fired over just 39 seconds into the game would turn out to be the only one from play by a Mayo forward that day.

It's the latter’s appearances record that Aidan O’Shea is now chasing, with the Breaffy man currently two short of both Moran’s league (101) and league/championship (185) totals. He’ll equal both of those if selected against Derry and Monaghan on the next two Sundays and could potentially surpass them in a National Football League final, or in New York in Mayo’s opening game of the Connacht championship.

To give O’Shea’s durability some context, Keith Higgins and Kevin McLoughlin ended their careers having played 91 games of league football and James Nallen 80. Lee Keegan played 73 times and Alan Dillon 69.

That game which gave him his senior break 15 years ago was also significant from a Derry perspective because like Aidan O’Shea, it was also the first National Football League match that Chrissy McKaigue ever played in, albeit he had actually made his senior debut as a substitute in the previous year’s Ulster Championship. McKaigue would go on to become one of the oldest first-time winners of an All-Star when selected in 2022, aged 33, and the Slaughtneil dual player (he has won three football and four hurling Ulster senior club titles) remains an integral part of new Derry manager Mickey Harte’s plans. The Derry goal-scorer in Ballina that day was another debutant, 19-year-old James Kielt, a prodigious talent who had been the losing captain (with McKaigue as vice-captain) when Galway won the 2007 All-Ireland MFC Final. 12 months later, Aidan O’Shea, too, had been desperately unfortunate not to win an All-Ireland MFC title, after Mayo lost a replayed final with Tyrone that went all the way to extra-time.

The match at James Stephens Park was of particular interest because of the implementation of new playing rules, whereby black-carded players would sit out the rest of the game for permanent replacements. Derry were forced into three such changes before half-time and another in the second-half, while Mayo finished the game without once falling foul of referee Maurice Deegan. Not that their discipline had a positive impact on the outcome.

“Throughout the course of the game a number of notable differences were evident between the sides. One was Derry’s aggression in the tackle,” wrote James Horan whose Western People column that week was titled, ‘Reason to worry for the Green and Red’. “On too many occasions Derry dispossessed Mayo at their will. They tackled in packs, pushed the ridiculous new rules to their limits, appearing to continuously pull and drag Mayo as they tried to build. They seemed hungrier and more determined,” he reckoned.

In fact, what Horan, quite forthrightly, had to say about Mayo then, is quite fascinating to read now, given he was to take charge as manager inside 18 months. You get a sense of the deficiencies he felt existed (albeit this was a soggy first-round game on the first day of February) and of the principles he ultimately would instill.

“Mayo, at times, were lacklustre gaining possession, slow to pick up, slow to hand pass and slow to support their teammates. At times they just did not seem up for the fight. Mayo were not near aggressive enough.

“Another difference between the teams was Derry’s pace and penetration out of defence. Derry broke out of defence at speed and could create an overlap too easily. Their support play was instinctive and at times left Mayo in their wake. In comparison, Mayo were pedestrian clearing their lines and did not appear to be able to break through the Derry tackles in order to create overlaps.” 

Everything James Horan had admired in Derry, Mayo over the next decade would take to another level, and everything Mayo had stood accused of, we rarely saw again.

And as for Aidan O’Shea? The boy became the owner of eight Connacht SFC winners medals, two National Football League winners medals, captained Connacht to a first interprovincial senior championship in 45 years, captained Ireland in the 2017 International Rules series and, of course, was named an All-Star on not one, not two but three occasions.

Of course, the aforementioned 2008 minor final was the beginning of O’Shea’s so-near-yet-so-far inter-county career that has included not a single All-Ireland win but six senior defeats. And his experiences at club level have been equally bitter, playing and losing five county senior finals. But on the cusp of greatness as the most picked Mayo footballer in history, there’s still time for a fairytale ending.

We and he still live in hope.