{"id":378116,"date":"2026-04-02T10:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T10:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/378116\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T10:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T10:28:10","slug":"aidan-oshea-on-18-unbroken-seasons-with-mayo-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/378116\/","title":{"rendered":"Aidan O\u2019Shea on 18 unbroken seasons with Mayo \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The last thing Aidan O\u2019Shea needs any reminding about is his extraordinary longevity. Which is understandable, because after 18 years as a Mayo<\/a> senior footballer, including 97 championship appearances in the green and red, he\u2019s still not done counting.<\/p>\n

Three months shy of his 36th birthday, O\u2019Shea already has the record for the most outfield appearances in the championship<\/a>. Only former Dublin<\/a> goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton<\/a>, with his 128, has more. Perhaps more impressively, O\u2019Shea has only missed one championship game for Mayo since making his debut as an 18-year-old Leaving Certificate student back in 2009.<\/p>\n

The only championship game Mayo played without him was the Connacht semi-final against Leitrim<\/a>, back in 2012, and that was purely on precautionary grounds. When it comes to the big showdowns he\u2019s always been there. <\/p>\n

Part of the secret to his longevity may well be in his appearance. When O\u2019Shea pops up on Zoom call on Wednesday, at a media event organised by football championship sponsors AIB, he doesn\u2019t look a day past 30, talking up the fresh possibilities this year under manager Andy Moran<\/a> as if he\u2019s starting out all over again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not something that\u2019s driving me to play on, put it that way,\u201d he says of his now 18 uninterrupted seasons. \u201cAnd I\u2019m well used to the questions about retirement. Sure they\u2019ve been retiring me since I was about 29.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously the fact that we\u2019ve had pretty long campaigns throughout that period has added to that number. And missing only one championship game in those seasons so far, there\u2019s a bit of luck involved in that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I say to the squad you can be as talented as you want, but you\u2019ve got to be available. And that\u2019s something I live by, in terms of league games, championship games, whatever. You\u2019ve got to be available to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KobeKobe McDonald, right, celebrates with Aidan O’Shea after scoring Mayo’s second goal against Monaghan last February. Photograph: Tom Maher\/INPHO <\/p>\n

Indeed, between league and championship, O\u2019Shea last summer passed the 200-game mark for Mayo. But he doesn\u2019t need any reminding either about the number of finals he\u2019s lost, especially not the six All-Ireland finals (including the 2016 replay), three of which Mayo lost by a point. Or indeed the last two Connacht finals Mayo have lost to closest rivals Galway<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would also take inspiration from players in other sports,\u201d he says. \u201cYou look at the AFL, and Scott Pendlebury will top all appearance records in about four weeks\u2019 time. He\u2019s 38 years of age, and still plays in the middle for Collingwood. So it is possible to continue to play for a little bit later than people might think.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is helping to drive him on, he says, is Moran\u2019s fresh approach as manager, his former team-mate also bringing out the very best in the younger players.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Andy I think refreshing would be the first word I\u2019d say. Like his energy is insane. The second you meet him, he puts you in good form. You just get that bounce of energy off him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd basically he told us straight, the last couple of years haven\u2019t been good enough. And I think that\u2019s been really good for the group. It\u2019s not like someone you\u2019re reminiscing about playing with, or anything. We just get on with the next training session, the next game, and I think the boys are enjoying the last few months with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s why I play and so it\u2019s probably, if not more enjoyable now, I think I appreciate those things a little bit more. And, yeah, don\u2019t take it for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AndyAndy Moran was appointed manager last August for a three-year term. Photograph: Andrew Paton\/INPHO <\/p>\n

O\u2019Shea\u2019s own routine has changed little over the years, if only to afford himself a little more \u201cTLC\u201d, and then \u201cjust the boring stuff with saunas, ice baths, a bit of chiropractor, just my general routine in a week\u201d. <\/p>\n

Mayo are out against London in the Connacht quarter-final on April 11th, and O\u2019Shea doesn\u2019t need any reminder either of the dangerously close call there back in 2010 when they just about progressed after extra-time.<\/p>\n

Like O\u2019Shea was at 18 back in 2009, there\u2019s another Leaving Cert student breaking on to the Mayo team now in Kobe McDonald<\/a>, son of another of O\u2019Shea\u2019s former colleagues, Ciar\u00e1n McDonald, the former player and Mayo selector. Although committed to St Kilda in Australia later this season, McDonald jnr is expected to shine for Mayo this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve known Kobe for a good few years, obviously through his dad, and you wouldn\u2019t think he\u2019s only just turned 18 in December. Not just the way he plays in the football, but the way he carries himself off it. It probably bodes well for a life in a professional sport. Unfortunately for us, but it\u2019s good for him.\u201d <\/p>\n

During his Leaving Cert at St Gerald\u2019s in Castlebar in 2009, O\u2019Shea wrote a popular diary for The Irish Times, often highlighting the difficult balancing act between study and training.<\/p>\n

Which raises the question, what would the advice be to his younger self, or to that Leaving Cert student of 2026?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably information overload now, you have to be careful what you take in, make sure it\u2019s filtered right. But I think I\u2019d probably be envious of kids starting off their careers now, compared to when I started. It was probably a lot looser and there wasn\u2019t the same level of discipline or engagement, and maybe it took me that year or two to understand that. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think I probably would be a bit more inquisitive, and a bit more challenging to myself, earlier in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The last thing Aidan O\u2019Shea needs any reminding about is his extraordinary longevity. Which is understandable, because after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[30883,148328,110979,61,60,146314,3184,24037,4185,112,2178],"class_list":{"0":"post-378116","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-galway-gaa","9":"tag-andy-moran","10":"tag-football-championship","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-kobe-mcdonald","14":"tag-leaving-certificate","15":"tag-leitrim-gaa","16":"tag-mayo-gaa","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-stephen-cluxton"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}