Aidan O’Shea’s Club Appearance After Derry Defeat Makes Substitution Even More Surprising | Balls.ie

As Mayo crashed out of the All-Ireland championship at the hands of penalties dealt by a resurgent Derry team, the inevitable post-season forensics have begun.

On the grand scheme things, the Connacht side can count themselves as somewhat unfortunate, considering that the only championship game they actually lost in normal time was the provincial final against Galway, and that was by a single point.

Since that defeat, they won their next two games and then drew with the All-Ireland champions Dublin, but because they lost on penalties to Derry, a side that has lost three championship games this year, they are the ones who are eliminated while the Ulster team go through.

Nonetheless, the game was there to be won for Mayo and if a couple of things went differently then they could be the ones in the quarter finals.

Their poor first half meant that they had a mountain to climb in the second, which they did, and only for a late equaliser from Chrissy McKaigue, then they would have won the game.

READ MORE: Kevin McStay Praised For Honest Take On Mayo’s Downfall In Open Interview

One decision made by Kevin McStay that puzzled pundits, was substituting Aidan O’Shea when there was only a couple of minutes left in injury time.

The Breaffy bulldozer was having a superb game, and was being man-marked closely by McKaigue, who was then freed from that responsibility during those closing moments.

Speaking on The GAA Social Podcast, former Armagh star Oisin McConville eluded to the fact that some of Mayo’s key players were on the bench towards the end.

I would agree with a lot of the talk afterwards that a lot of the big Derry players stood up towards the end of the game, where a lot of the Mayo players that had stood up were on the bench at that stage”, said McConville.

“That was obviously due to the game going to extra time, but it felt like Derry were stronger finishing.”

On The Irish Examiner GAA podcast, former Mayo manager James Horan was asked if he would have taken off O’Shea with just a few minutes to go.

The timing of it, probably not”, admitted Horan.

“The timing of it; there’s only a couple of minutes left, it was all in the melting pot, and he was out of gas for sure but his leadership and presence might have made a difference.

“You don’t know. You don’t know in hindsight. Certainly when he went off, it had an impact for sure.”

The morning after the Derry defeat, O’Shea came off the bench for his club Breaffy at half-time to play in a league game against Charlestown.

Matthew Ruane, who came off against Derry just a few minutes before his club mate, also featured for Breaffy the following morning.

This would support the argument that O’Shea had more left in the tank to offer in that game against the Oakleafer’s, particularly as there were only a couple of minutes left on the clock.

Paul Towey, who came on as a sub against Derry, also played in that match, kicking an incredible 1-07 for Charlestown to help them seal a narrow victory.

Regardless of managerial decisions, close calls, or championship structures, the fact that these players took the field less than 24 hours after representing their county to help out their clubs is testament to their character and commitment to the GAA.

SEE ALSO: Mickey Harte Praises Derry’s Mettle After ‘Loose Talk’ And ‘Bonkers’ Rumours