There was nowhere left to hide. Aidan O’Shea knew it and Mayo knew it.
Kevin McStay’s side arrived in Salthill on Sunday armed with the knowledge there were just two possible outcomes – the end of their season or a return to Croke Park for an All-Ireland quarter-final.
Having emptied himself throughout, O’Shea was taken off in the closing stages at Pearse Stadium and watched the late drama unfold from the sideline as Mayo repelled Galway’s barrage in the dying seconds.
“We were 15 minutes away from going through on top of the group [last week], having a weekend off and getting ready for a quarter-final in two weeks, to instead coming to Salthill against a really good team and kind of fighting for our lives,” says O’Shea of the predicament Mayo found themselves in because of that loss to Cork.
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“It was difficult, but the reality is we weren’t good last weekend [against Cork], in the overall scheme of the game we weren’t good.
“We were always going to get some level of a reaction, whether that was going to be good enough or not we weren’t sure, but we had some honest words during the week.
“That’s not what we are about last week in terms of our energy levels, the way we gave the ball away and the way we just kind of folded towards the end, so no better game than to play Galway in their backyard to try and get us back on track and focus the minds a bit.
“Maybe it was the perfect draw for us in a way, there was no ambiguity about it, it was kind of s**t or bust time for us, we had to perform – and thankfully we did.”
[ Mayo survive chaos in Galway to continue All-Ireland questOpens in new window ]
David McBrien’s 43rd-minute goal was the game-changing score, indeed it might also have been a season-defining one for Mayo. O’Shea played his part in the goal as he was on hand for a tidy one-two with the Mayo defender, who finished the move with a splash of David Clifford-esque panache.
“He actually gets up there a lot in fairness,” explains O’Shea of Mayo’s full back. “We were only saying a couple of weeks ago he was due one up there, he’s very fast and does make a few breaks during games so we weren’t surprised to see him up there.
“But I wasn’t sure whether he was going to bury it in the back of the net or put it over the bar. I was delighted to see it go in and it was a game-changer for us in the second half.”
O’Shea played a highly influential role in Mayo’s resistance on Sunday, while several more of the team’s experienced players also rolled back the years with powerful displays against the Tribesmen.
Kevin McLoughlin and Jason Doherty both started the game while Cillian O’Connor came in off the bench during the second half.
“The Ruislip crew, the ones that are left from Ruislip when we nearly lost,” smiles O’Shea in reference to the 2011 Connacht SFC clash when extra-time was needed for Mayo to get out of London with a win.
“Cillian is back and he’s worked really hard in fairness to him, and he makes a huge difference to any team. Kev and Jason made a difference obviously and they are so versatile around the pitch.”
Much has been made of O’Shea’s late free in the three-point defeat to Cork. Had he registered a point rather than dropping the ball in on top of the square in search of a late goal, Mayo would not have finished third in their group.
But O’Shea says he was unaware of the permutations at the time.
“I didn’t know, somebody just said ‘kill it’ and I didn’t even do that! I didn’t realise until after the game that it was going to be second to third. But look, to be honest, people were on about a home game or an away game, but it makes no odds to us.”
The draw for the quarter-finals has set Mayo up for another Croke Park dance with Dublin, with the game fixed for a 4pm throw-in next Sunday.
It will be Mayo’s first time back at GAA headquarters since their National League Division One final victory over Galway at the venue in April.
“We have always said when we get into Croke Park it suits a lot of our bodies in terms of the players we have and the pace we can bring to the game, so it’s exciting to get back to Croke Park,” adds O’Shea.
“There’s been a lot of criticism of the championship in the last few weeks but it’s been really enjoyable, it’s really coming to peak time in the championship now and we are there, so let’s see what happens.”
