Aidan O’Shea’s reaction to being subbed off against Dublin revealed a lot about his character

“The accusation at him is that he has an ego.”

Aidan O’Shea has been filling the back and front pages of newspapers all week for his involvement in Mayo’s historic win over Dublin, although it might not all be the kind of press he wants.

A lot has been made of his poor performance, the fact that he was subbed off early in the second half, and his decision to run onto the field and get involved in a scuffle with Philly McMahon.

He had just captained his county to one of their biggest wins in their history, but most of what was been said or written about him was from a negative point of view.

Speaking on the GAA Hour, Colm Parkinson noted one key trait that he found very impressive from the Breaffy man.

“The accusation at him is that he has an ego, and I’m looking at the picture of himself and Horan, I’m looking at him when he came off, he didn’t sulk, he was down… for a player of his importance to Mayo, he was taken off, he was back down warming up, to maybe come back on again.

“Now I’ll hold my hands up, if I was taken off after 49 minutes as captain, I would be so disgusted with myself, not so much even the manager, I would be so livid, I would have my head in my hands. 

“I might not even be watching the rest of the game, so there’s ego involved in me reacting like that, it’s being self-absorbed and I know it’s changed a lot now, where it’s way more focused on the team, than maybe even when we played, but I was impressed at his reaction to not making it all about himself, or sulking.”

Kildare legend Johnny Doyle was also on the show, and he weighed in on the discussion.

“Look it, everybody has an ego, some are a lot bigger than others, and of course you would be disappointed, and we have all got the curly finger from time to time. 

“There’s times you be thinking ‘Jesus, am I that bad?’ And you be doubting yourself, and you be sitting in the stand, and you would be so disappointed in your own performance, and you’re right, it’s not a case of anything else, you know, questioning yourself.

“But, I think Aidan O’Shea, like he’s not captain of that team… like James Horan is a very astute man, I don’t think he… and any manager at that level, any decision they make, they’re calculated decisions, you know, they made him captain for a reason.

“I would be a little bit inclined to agree with Brendan, I wasn’t shocked with him coming off to be honest with you. I thought his performance wasn’t great.

“You look at him and say, maybe Michael Murphy coming off for Donegal, you know, you’re looking at it totally different because of the presence and the leadership, and the big scores.”

You can listen to the full discussion on the GAA Hour now!

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