O'Shea 'singled himself out to be different' - Flynn
May 18, 2017
Aidan O'Shea and the Mayo team make their way out at Dr Hyde Park.
©INPHO/Donall Farmer.
Former Meath All-Ireland winner Bernard Flynn has criticised Mayo's Aidan O'Shea over taking 'photographs and selfies' with kids after a recent challenge game.
Flynn was speaking on the RTE GAA Podcast with Damian Lawlor and former Mayo football star John Casey when O'Shea's name came up, which brought about a discussion on Tomas O Se's comments last week that the big Breaffy man was not in the same league as Donegal's Michael Murphy.
Flynn described the scene at the end of a challenge match between Meath and Mayo at Mullingar Shamrocks GAA recently, in which he says O'Shea signed autographs and took pictures with kids while his team mates were in a huddle after the game.
"This is something small, but I thought it was huge and I'm going to share it. I actually wasn't going to but I'm going to do it," Flynn said.
"Meath played Mayo in a challenge the week before last. I helped organise the challenge.
"At the very end of the match, the Mayo players got around in the circle. O'Shea had finished the match. There were 15-20 kids around, he signed autographs. The team was in a circle about ten yards away. No-one asked him to leave what he was doing, every other player was in a huddle, talking. He was left outside and allowed to do as he wanted.
"That happened. He decided to come into the ring when all the photographs were finished, which I found absolutely incredible.
"They did a warm-down and the same thing happened. The whole team did the warm-down and ten yards away, he proceeded to have photographs and selfies and whatnot. He was allowed to do his own thing.
"I stood back in amazement with a few friends of mine that watched. A certain individual, who's close to the Meath team, said, 'That's exactly why Aidan O'Shea plays the way he does.'
"It was incredible to see what happened, right in front of me. I just think there's too much made of him and maybe he's not just one of the players the way he should be.
"I found it extraordinary what took place that night, the way he singled himself out to be different."
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