Not long into the question about what Mayo might do differently this year Aidan O’Shea pauses slightly and then begins to interrupt himself.
“Well it’s definitely not commitment or training anyway,” he says. “It’s just when it comes to... it’s fairly straightforward. When we’ve lost we’ve conceded bad goals in the last couple of years. We need to tighten up at the back.
“And we need to manage our games better. We seem to play the same way throughout and I don’t think other teams do that. We need to just tighten up a bit and be a little more game smart. . . “A lot of things we’re doing are very, very good but are there certain situations where we need to hold the fort.”
Of course there is no easy or straight answer. Setting forth into another season aimed at ending Mayo’s now 65-year wait for an All-Ireland football title must raise a great variety of questions, although one thing is certain: O’Shea is ready to bring them on, starting with Sunday’s Allianz Football League opener against Cork.
Eighth season
Still only 25, although in his eighth season as a Mayo senior, O’Shea is also ready to give whatever it takes. Renowned for his versatility, he is not yet sure where new Mayo manager Stephen Rochford intends to utilise him.
“I don’t mind where he plays me. I don’t mind if I play 11 or midfield, I’m comfortable in both of them. So yeah wherever he thinks is fitting for the day, I’m sure we’ll work on it. But I’m back on the pitch the last seven days and good to go, so I’ll be togging for the Cork game and hopefully the Dublin game the week after.”
After that O'Shea will take part in The Toughest Trade, the documentary film commissioned by AIB as part of its club sponsorship campaign. O'Shea will spend a week training in the US with a yet undisclosed American football team (Tipperary hurler Brendan Maher will also swap codes to train with a national cricket team) – the aim of which is to compare and contrast the life of their so-called amateur status versus their professional counterparts.
“I honestly don’t know what the plan is yet. I won’t say I’m an expert on American football and follow basketball an awful lot more but I went to Jets-Giants before Christmas in New York, and certainly like watching it.
“I’m going with an open mind, I don’t even know what I’m going to be doing but there is definitely something I’ll be able to pick out of it. These guys are freaks of nature so I’ll see how I get on.”
O’Shea has spoken before about the essentially professional commitments within the amateur code of the GAA, although he says the day when players might be paid is still some way off.
“Not while I’m playing football anyway. This is my eighth year so my years are going the other way, but you never know where Gaelic football might go in time. It will take a huge change in lots and lots of ways for it to happen, maybe 20 years down the road.”
Production planner
He works as a production planner with a pharmaceutical company, while juggling the commitment of training and playing with Mayo.
“I actually like having my week set out, up every morning at 7.0, and in to work 15 minutes down the road. I can plan my week and I like that. Professionalism would take a bit of getting used to if I was doing nothing else all day only training and not working. And I don’t think that would be enjoyable because I prefer being in the team environment.”
“Realistically it’s going to take a collective of 32 counties, hurling and football to say ‘this is it’ and it’s difficult to garner that type of momentum because some people are happy doing what they’re doing and they’re not willing to take a stand and speak out about it.
“Personally I don’t think I’m doing too much. I don’t feel I’m close to breaking point and I quite enjoy what I do. To be honest, if Stephen (Rochford) asked me to train seven nights of the week and he persuaded me that this was the right thing to do to win an All-Ireland, I’d train seven nights of the week and seven mornings of the week.”
