Aidan O'Shea has embraced the responsibility of captaining the Mayo footballers this year.
By John Harrington
Like most sportsfans the world over, Mayo footballer Aidan O’Shea was glued to the Michael Jordan documentary, ‘The Last Dance’, in recent weeks.
O’Shea is a talented basketballer himself and has a keen interest in the sport, but for him it was Jordan’s raw competitiveness and uncompromising brand of leadership that made the documentary such a compelling one.
The Mayo captain is quick to say he wouldn’t dream of comparing himself to Jordan, but he certainly found himself empathising with Jordan’s burning will to win.
“Yeah, there's probably similarities,” said O’Shea. “As a young fella and even now, I'm more determined than ever to try and win. Sometimes that boils over for me being a bit aggressive and maybe my leadership can be a bit raw.
"It's probably something I've had to reflect on and improve on. I probably wouldn't have been asked to be captain this year if I didn't adjust a little bit in terms of that. Just knowing when is the right time to press those buttons.”
O’Shea made his debut for Mayo 11 years ago and is one of the most experienced and talented players in their panel, but he still admits it was a surprise when manager James Horan told him he was making him captain.
"It was probably something I wasn't expecting at this stage, I'm a little bit older,” he says. “I thought James would go a different direction. When he asked me, I was obviously delighted.
“I've been lucky enough to captain Breaffy, Connacht to a Railway Cup and obviously captained Ireland a couple of years ago. So it was something I hadn't done and would have been disappointed at the end of my career if I didn't get to do it.
"But I think if you're given that leadership role, you've got to assess how you are about the place, how you interact with people and just maybe spend a bit more time getting to understand your team-mates on a kind of greater level than just football.
“That's something that I'm trying to do. I'm studying a leadership diploma out of the IMI and just trying to learn. There's always opportunities to learn in terms of leadership, and I'm all ears."
AIB, proud sponsors of both Club and County, announced today alongside Mayo’s Aidan O’Shea that they will be re-releasing their much talked about GAA series ‘The Toughest Trade’ on Virgin Media Television this summer.
Leadership comes in many forms and guises, so what sort of leader is O’Shea? Is it something that comes naturally to him?
“I’ve a team of 14 at work as well which is always a challenge, and 14 different personalities so I’ve plenty of experience in that regard,” he says.
“The first thing I’ve learnt about leadership is you can’t try and be someone else.
“You can’t try and be Michael Jordan, or, whether it’s captain we’ve had, I can’t try and be Cillian (O’Connor) or Alan Dillon, I’ve got to try and be myself.
“There’s no point in trying to conform to something you’re not.
“I try to be true to my own values and that’s what is important to me.
“I try to respect everybody and to be as authentic as I can.
“Something that is big for me and that I probably struggled with throughout my career is that trust level and building trust and not being afraid to show vulnerability is important for me.
“It’s something I’ve tried to work on big time over the last 18 months. It has helped me as a person and a teammate.”
Aidan O'Shea, right, and Ryan O'Donoghue of Mayo contest a high ball with Graham O’Sullivan, left, and Shane Enright of Kerry during the Allianz Football League Division 1 Round 5 match between Mayo and Kerry at Elverys MacHale Park in Castlebar, Mayo.
The lockdown in recent weeks has given all GAA players time to reflect on just what their sport means to them, and O’Shea is no different.
"The time we've had now has been strange,” he says. “I suppose I appreciate the sport, the training, the team-mates, the set-up and everything that much more. You miss it so much.
“People say 'you're so lucky to be involved in such a great set-up.' To not have it and get out there and challenge yourself week-in week-out with the lads, and then into games and stuff.
"It's just magical and this time has given us that opportunity to appreciate it even more when we do get it back."
O’Shea would love nothing more than to be back on a pitch with his team-mates, but he understands why the Association has taken a safety-first approach.
“It’s a tough one for the GAA,” says O’Shea. “I know from my own club - I don’t know how many members we have but if you open the pitches, the place is going to be jammers. I don’t know how you could expect club members to police that like, you’d nearly need a rota for pitch use.
“I’d love to see the GAA pitches open, but I probably would err on the side of caution. One death is too many and we really don’t want a spike in cases.”
