Aidan O'Shea: "My life is set up to play for Mayo"

Mayo footballer Aidan O’Shea has spoken about the challenges facing players during the off-season.

As a guest on the Irish Examiner’s Gaelic football podcast, O’Shea said the calendar means players will have to approach the off-season differently.

He elaborated: “You are already plotting and planning about things you want to do. It is 200 odd days until Mayo play again.

"It is a lifetime in Gaelic football. It is very unusual compared to old system.

"I think this is a problem across the board in terms of development of players. We would have gone deep into championships and eight to ten weeks later we are back together collectively.

“Whatever bad habits or regressions you pick up, stuff you get away with at club level, it wouldn’t be significant.

"But we are not back together until December. Five months of playing club football where you will always have bad habits that will creep in. It is a long time away.

“It should be utilised by players to improve but it is a long time away from the environment. You have to try and utilise it as best you can.

"So if you are not turning your mind to being a better footballer or team in 2025 pretty promptly, you will be behind the pack.”

He continued: “There are loads of little things running around in my head.

"Last week was a tough week. In terms of my mentality, I’m back into five or six days a week. I think most inter-county players are that way.”

The day after Mayo’s loss to Derry in Castlebar, O’Shea played for his club Breaffy against Charlestown in a Mayo Senior League fixture.

Matthew Ruane and Paul Towey also played in the game.

“We are struggling for the club in terms of points,” O’Shea explained.

“I played a game the day after the Cavan game and we beat Ballinrobe. That gave us three points in the league. It is 1A and 1B with a playoff at the bottom.

"Basically, the logic was if we could sneak about two points, we might be in a position to get out of a play-off.

“With a wedding coming up, I was thinking we could avoid it. Whereas now it looks like that play-off could potentially happen around the time of the wedding, so I’ll miss that.

"We lost the game unfortunately, didn’t do enough when I came on at half-time. Not ideal.

“My life is set up to play football for Mayo. I’m very lucky with the support around me, my family and my fiancé.

"I am a stone’s throw from MacHale Park gym. From the pitch. Not every player has that luxury.

"I see player’s travelling up and down from Dublin, they don’t have that level of flexibility and convenience. I’m blessed being injury free for the majority of my career.

"That helps when you get to my age, not worrying about niggles or knocks. All these things are ticked. It makes it easier.”