AIDAN HUNGER BREAFF-TAKING
AS much as Aidan O’shea has given to Mayo, he’s pledged almost half a lifetime to Breaffy seniors.
O’shea’s quest with ending the county’s All-ireland drought is well documented, but his club have never won the Mayo SFC and are competing in just their third ever final against Ballintubber tonight having lost to Castlebar Mitchels in 2013 and ‘15.
Winning the Paddy Moclair Cup would rival anything the 28-year-old might achieve with Mayo.
“Yeah, definitely,” he said. “I think I played my first game when I was 15 so I’m playing a long time with the club and we’ve been senior a long time and never got over the line.
“It’d be massive, absolutely massive for us to win a county title for the first time.
“We’re under no illusions. Ballintubber obviously have an embarrassment of riches so it’s not going to be an easy one but you’ve got to be able to get over it some time.”
Mayo’s defeat to Kildare in the third round of the qualifiers represented their earliest elimination from the Championship since 2010, having at least been in an All-ireland semi-final every season since.
It meant that O’shea and the likes of his brother Seamus and Rob Hennelly, also county panellists, were in a position to devote much more time to Breaffy.
He added: “We obviously didn’t want to get kicked out of the Championship against Kildare.
“But it’s been a blessing to be back playing with the club and be able to play every weekend, get properly prepared for championship games and give the club the type of dedication that it deserves in terms of how you train for your county team, so that’s been good.”