
GAA
Share
Published 18:51 20 May 2017 BST
Explore more on these topics:
"At the very end of the match the Mayo players got round in a circle and O’Shea had finished the match with the 15 that had finished. There were 15, 20 kids around and he signed autographs. "The team was in a circle 10 yards away. No one asked him to leave what he was doing. Every other player was in a circle in a huddle talking; he was left outside the ring and allowed do what he wanted. "He decided then after a while to come into the ring when all the photographs were finished, which I found absolutely incredible. They did a warmdown and the same thing happened."Admittedly, O'Shea could probably have done with being in that huddle but, have you ever watched O'Shea after the full-time whistle of a Mayo match? It is like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, as children flock to the Breaffy man for autographs and selfies. Before the referee has collected the O'Neills, O'Shea is invariably mobbed by starstruck fans. Any journalists looking to talk to O'Shea after a match know they will have to wait, as the Mayo man is normally the last player off the field as he signs jerseys and poses for pictures. Unfortunately, it seems O'Shea is not alone, with GAA stars all over the country suffering from severe cases of popularity. There is promising young Kerry midfielder Kieran Donaghy signing a programme back in 2006... What a weapon he could have been for the Kingdom had the popularity not caught him.
Darran O'Sullivan, another flash Kerry Dan, not doing a warm down.
Cork goalkeeper Anthony Nash making some young fans' days there... a blight on the GAA.
Lee Chin, the poster boy of Wexford hurling. Not an All-Ireland medal in sight.
[caption id="attachment_124111" align="alignnone" width="1024"]
Veteran Alan Dillon proving that O'Shea is not the only Mayo footballer interacting with supporters.[/caption]
Davy Glennon signing hurls, not warming down, bringing shame on Galway hurling.
There is Henry Shefflin at it too. Shame, he could have made something of his career.
There is much hand-wringing about keeping GAA in the "shop window", tackling the professional charms of rugby and soccer, yet when footballers and hurlers rise to rugby/soccer levels of fame we try to hack them down with our tall poppy scythes.
What makes Aidan O'Shea's fame all the more remarkable are the number of prominent voices out there that seem so horrified by it.
Being defaced seems to come with the territory of being a GAA poster boy.Cork star tracks down young fan he accidentally injured at Tipp game
A great gesture! After experiencing the joys of Cork’s win over Tipperary on Sunday, a young fan suffered an unfortunate injury when running on to the field after full-time, to get close to his heroes. He went straight for Darragh Fitzgibbon, who, unbeknownst to him, accidentally knocked the kid to the ground and continued on […]
GAA
2 days ago
Dónal Óg involved in tense exchange over Cork pundits with RTÉ presenter
Things got tetchy…. Last week, Cork selector Ronan Curran stated that he felt pundits from the Rebel county could be more of a help to their side. He said: “We kind of think maybe sometimes we could get a bit more help out there from our own lads.” This was brought up during the weekend’s […]
GAA
2 days ago
Pat Spillane makes bold claim that county should be removed from Tailteann Cup
GAA