It must have been nice for Aidan O’Shea to go under the radar for a change.
For so long the Mayo talisman, O’Shea had a quiet yet effective outing against Kildare, on Saturday, as his team booked passage into the next round of the qualifiers.
Most of his best work was done around midfield and mopping up at the back. He wandered forward on occasion but didn’t have the shooting boots on. It was a solid 7/10 while the O’Connor brothers and Evan Reagan were pillaging the Lilywhites.
With the game all but over at half-time, after two goals in the space of three minutes, there was no need to push O’Shea up as the spear-head. That was his role last week as he helped his side past a tricky Fermanagh.
His role in winning a penalty in the closing minutes attracted much criticism – a host of neutral fans, pundits and pretty much all of Fermanagh felt he had gone down too easily. Some said “dived”, others “cheated”.
Did Aidan O'Shea dive to win Mayo's match-winning penalty. Watch it here and decide https://t.co/Hg2rrwpBZj
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) July 9, 2016
O’Shea politely turned down several interview requests after Mayo’s latest conquest but he did find time to speak with Sky Sports. He said:
“The unfortunate thing is, in the world of social media [the incident] was always going to be all over the place.
“The disappointing thing is there was one camera angle. The national broadcasters only brought one camera down and it was disappointing there was only one angle to show.
“Everyone gets to see something in the flash of a second but my conscience is clear, I didn’t flop. I’m happy enough. [The criticism] has been probably more difficult for my family over the last couple of days…
“I don’t think I dived. That’s the bottom line. I see people having a cut at me. I can be judged and criticised fairly, I’ve no problem with that, but it was probably unfair during the week.”
O’Shea says the hardest questions that followed came from within the squad itself. The backdoor has brought the players closer but there is some work to be done yet.”
