Aidan O’Shea is back.
Or he’s left for a while, whatever way you look at, if you’re a Gael or a basketballer – however many steps you allow yourself to take with the ball in your hand.
The Mayo legend has signed on with Ej’s Sligo All-Stars, a National League Division One outfit of Basketball Ireland.
O’Shea hasn’t played competitively for seven years since his St. Declan’s days in Dublin and a stint in Castlebar but he is back and ready to become the third Mayo footballer to line out for Sligo All-Stars after Ronan McGarrity and Liam McHale.
And O’Shea reckons he might be able to convince a few more of the All-Ireland finalists to join him in their neighbouring county.
“I might rope a few more of the Mayo lads into it too, football skills transfer very well over to basketball so I might get a few more down to Sligo – you never know,” he said.
“I’m not nervous about going back – though Ronan [McGarrity] is here too so I’m sure there’ll be a lot of slagging! I’m really happy to be back but I don’t have any great expectations of myself – I’ll just see how it goes.
“I haven’t played since my first year in college, but I’m looking forward to training. I asked the coach Shane [O’Meara] about joining the team last year and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. This winter is probably one of the first times I’ve a couple of months to myself, and I’ve time now to be able to train with them.”
Kerry’s Kieran Donaghy won the intermediate championship with St. Brendan’s of Tralee back in January.
Sligo All-Stars are away to Dublin Lions on Sunday and then have a home game against Titans on Saturday night, November 12 so O’Shea could feature in either of those.
He’d do well to replicate anything like this though.
Serious hops here https://t.co/cP7rQ6SErX
— Kieran Donaghy (@starryboy14) October 24, 2016
Colm O’Rourke and Pauric Mahony join Colm Parkinson on a packed GAA Hour that includes Dick Clerkin appreciation and Sean Cavanagh envy. Subscribe here on iTunes.
