Conor McManus has lavished Aidan O’Shea for his willingness to take something of a back seat as Mayo ended their All-Ireland famine at last.

O’Shea is one of the longest-serving active intercounty players, having played in every All-Ireland final the Westerners have reached in the past 15 years.

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Defeats to Donegal (2012), Dublin (2013, ’16, ’17, ’20) and Tyrone (2021) gave O’Shea and comrades like the O’Connor brothers one of the most painful All-Ireland final records in Gaelic football history.

Most believed that the window of opportunity had closed for this Mayo team, with few giving Andy Moran’s side a chance coming into 2026.

O’Shea himself struggled in the opening weeks of the season. The 36-year-old looked lost (as did many of his teammates) in the Connacht SFC drubbing at the hands of Roscommon, and was ultimately dropped from the starting XV by Moran after another poor showing against Tyrone in Round 2A of the All-Ireland.

That game in Omagh would prove to be the last that O’Shea played in 2026, with the Breaffy veteran forced to take a back seat as the youngsters in the Mayo full-forward line took centre stage.

Being consigned to the bench did not seem to faze O’Shea, however, and he was ecstatic after finally ending his wait for a Celtic Cross last Sunday.

Writing in the Irish Times this weekend, Monaghan great Conor McManus said that O’Shea had proved a few critics wrong with his professional approach after being dropped by Andy Moran.

Conor McManus hails Aidan O’Shea

Conor McManus had effusive praise for O’Shea, saying that the All-Ireland winner had shut down the “bullsh*t” blame that had been apportioned to him for Mayo’s previous All-Ireland final defeats.

“I am delighted for Aidan O’Shea,” McManus wrote in his Irish Times column on Saturday.

The man who was blamed by anonymous social media hounds for Mayo losing six All-Ireland finals during a stellar career didn’t see a minute on Sunday, but it took some amount of commitment for the former star player to keep showing up for training, knowing he was unlikely to get the nod from Andy.

That’s all you need to know about Aidan O’Shea. Not the bulls**t blame game that went around in the past….all the veterans laid the way for teenagers like Kobe McDonald, Darragh Beirne and Eoin McGreal to play with the freedom that was missed on the tougher days Mayo have encountered in Croke Park.

It can’t have been easy for Aidan O’Shea to watch Kobe McDonald and co. run the show at Croke Park as Mayo finally ended the most infamous drought in GAA history last Sunday.

However, the stalwart took it in his stride and showed nothing but ecstatic delight when Mayo did indeed get over the line against Kerry, a mark of the man after years which had seen him targeted with criticism.