Mayo GAA great Lee Keegan happy to hear Aidan O'Shea receive ...

LEE KEEGAN just cannot understand the vitriol aimed at Aidan O’Shea.

But Keegan hailed his former Mayo team-mate’s selfless efforts when playing alongside him.

Lee Keegan (right) O’Shea were key men for Mayo over the yearsMayo veteran Aidan O’Shea experienced hardship on and off the field - but excelled nonetheless

Keegan retired from inter-county football in 2022 with five All-Stars to his name and was also named Footballer of the Year in 2016.

The Westport man was loved by the Mayo faithful and played alongside some of their biggest ever heroes.

The likes of Colm Boyle, Keith Higgins, Andy Moran and Cillian O’Connor will go down as all-time greats for the Green and Red.

Keegan won seven Connacht SFC titles with the county but when Mayo won together, they lost together.

The defender and O’Shea shared All-Ireland final defeats in 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2021.

Their intense rivalry with Dublin dominated football for a decade as the Sky Blues proved to be their biggest tormentors.

Mayo never reached the holy grail but the finger was often pointed at O’Shea when things went wrong — unlike the love shown to Keegan.

Breaffy man O’Shea revealed in July that hate mailhas been sent his way for years.

His parents and wife Kristin did their best to hide the anonymous letters from him as online attacks poured in.

But O’Shea. 34, let his football do the talking this summer and produced one of his best ever campaigns despite their early All-Ireland preliminary quarter- final exit against Derry.

He was nominated for an All-Star last week and Keegan slammed the constant criticism aimed at his pal since making his SFC debut in 2009.

Keegan told SunSport: “It’s very frustrating and sometimes really infuriating.

“But the thing I really appreciate about Aido as a team-mate is that he always puts the best intentions of us first and lets that stuff filter off in the background.

“He’d never try to take away what’s more important for the group. I don’t think people realise that over the years, he’s very open-minded.

“He takes on a couple of gigs here and there and he’s more than entitled to. Every guy does that.

“But I just always think because of Aido and his profile being so big, he always seemed to be in the firing line above anybody else.

"The thing I love about Aido, I suppose for half of my career, he was a sheltered kind of character and very within himself.

“He’d say that himself. He probably lacked the trust within the group because of the perception out there around him and the way that people judged him.

“In the latter end of his career he came out of himself a bit more and he looks like a man who is really enjoying his football, expressing himself and trusting the guys around him.

"You can be the most strong-willed character in the world but when you have people always putting you in the firing line, putting blame on you and castigating you for certain things and even personal stuff . . . 

“Not even talking about football, that stuff can have an impact on whether you’re the strongest character or not.

"It will catch up with you at some stage.”

TRAILBLAZER

Opening up and calling the abuse out was not easy for O’Shea.

But Keegan hopes it will help future stars deal with the same thing as social media abuse becomes an increasing issue for players.

O’Shea always put Mayo football first and was never afraid to call out a team-mate who was not pulling his weight for the cause.

And Keegan explained: “What I love about Aido is his openness this year to talk about it.

“That’s only going to help the next generation of people that are the next superstar that comes through in terms of how to handle that.“I’d be close to him and I work right beside him here in Westport.

“When things don’t go too well, he’s the first guy to call you out on it. He’ll challenge you and he will challenge you without crossing the boundary or causing a stir in your own relationship.

“You kind of appreciate it when he says, ‘You’d better do this’ or, ‘You have to do that’.

“That’s what I used to love about Aido. He tried his best to get the best out of people by challenging them.

“And it’s always the thing where people say, you know, we need to challenge people but a lot of people don’t do it because it’s not built in their personalities.

“Whereas Aido would do that constantly because he wanted the best for the group.”

A YEAR TO FORGET

O’Shea’s scintillating form on the field has been plain to see — while Keegan is not in the Mayo dressing room anymore.

But he looks on closely as an analyst with The Sunday Game.

Mayo had a campaign to forget but O’Shea dragged them through most of their outings — including their pulsating All-Ireland SFC group stage draw with Dublin at Dr Hyde Park.

Westport hero Keegan retired from inter-county football at 32 as family and work commitments began to take centre stage.

O’Shea started his own new chapter when he got married last month.

But there are no signs of him stopping when Mayo go to the well again in 2025.

Keegan said: “When his name came up for an All-Star nomination, it’s well deserved.

“Now, whether he gets it at? I’m not so sure, based on Mayo’s early exit, but I think it’s a testament to Aido’s year.

“He’s in year 14 of his career and he’s nearly playing some of the best football of his life and he’s had some brilliant performances.

“For a guy of that age at the latter end of his career to be able to do what he’s doing and still doing it at club level just speaks volumes to the guy that he is.

“As someone said to him a few weeks ago, he should get married every week if this is the way he’s going to keep playing.

“The fact he’s got an All-Star nomination and it just shows his importance to that group next year because of what he brought this year.

“In some regards, it’s funny, I remember towards the end of my career, I found that the pressure is probably less.

“He appreciated that his body allowed him to do some of the things he’s doing, and I think he’s flourishing.

“If you look at his form alone, you know how important he is to that Mayo set-up at the moment and he doesn’t look like a guy that wants to retire.

“When you see a guy that I’ve tripped along with for so long do that, I just love it.

“I’m delighted for him because I have nothing but the best respect for Aido on the pitch and off the pitch.

“It’s great to hear him get the high praise that he deserves.”