Pádraig O'Hora: Lightning rod Aidan O'Shea an example of resilience

Mayo defender Pádraig O'Hora has said that Aidan O'Shea’s resilience in the face of continuous criticism speaks volumes of his strength of character both on and off the pitch.

For many, the big Breaffy man has been the lightning rod for the discourse surrounding Mayo’s failure to end their long wait for the Sam Maguire title in recent times.

O’Shea has been reborn though under new manager Kevin McStay, causing havoc on the edge of the opposition square as they claimed the Division 1 title - although his influence was stymied in their Connacht quarter-final loss to Roscommon.

O’Hora, speaking at Supervalu’s championship launch focussing on diversity and inclusion, was in awe with how his team-mate didn’t allow the outside noise to break him down.

"I don’t want to speak for him, but I assume it has been," was his response when asked had it been tough for the player to hear such harsh words.

"We’ve all had our ups and downs when people are on your back or you’ve been under a little bit of pressure, I certainly have had a little bit of it and it’s not nice.

"I don’t know how Aidan has dealt with that, but he has been subject to a fair bit of it. But it hasn’t knocked him, he’s still there. For all that’s been said about him he’s still there, he’s stuck it out.

"He’s playing for Mayo how many years now? He’s done extremely well so it clearly hasn’t done too much to him so."

"I don’t know how that works to be honest. I’m not on that side of the fence slating people and giving out about them.

"It’s the person that makes the headlines really, isn’t it, or if you’re a target man for a team.

"If we pick any team in the country, talk about Armagh and you immediately go to Rian O’Neill. Why? Because he’s a scorer or whatever. Go to Mayo and