'SCANDALOUS'
I was being sent hate mail to my family home – my mam and fiancee would try and hide it from me, reveals Aidan O’Shea
The 34-year-old revealed the extent to which his family would try and protect him from the abuse
AIDAN O'SHEA revealed his mam would try and protect him from hate mail that was sent to the family home.
The Mayo GAA star received backlash from some parts of the fanbase in the fall-out from Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly's exits as joint-managers in 2015.
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Holmes and Connelly left the position after a campaign that saw Mayo win the Connacht title and lose to Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final after a replay.
The fall-out led to O'Shea being sent hate mail, as he revealed to Thomas Niblock and Oisin McConville on the BBC's GAA Social podcast.
He said: “I’m sure my mother has them cut out and on the bad list!
"There was a week-long of stuff, but it’s not really what those people were saying, it’s more all of a sudden what it’s OK for everyone else to say.
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“So basically when you are getting stuff in through your post box at home, into your family home, that is just scandalous in my opinion.
“Hand-written letters, typed letters, personal stuff about you, what you should do.
"It’s quite delicate stuff, that stuff is very difficult. And I know Dad has gone to higher powers to see if we could do something about it.
"It’s very hard to trace this stuff and that can be quite difficult. Nameless stuff, or same person probably and different names."
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The 34-year-old revealed the extent to which his family would try and protect him from the abuse, including fiancee Kristin.
He added: "That’s very hard to the point where my mother would have intercepted it at home and when I moved into my house in town, my fiancé would now intercept it."
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The Breaffy man admitted that 2015 was a "difficult year" and believes the fall-out "blackened my name a little bit."
He also believes he bore the brunt from Mayo's ongoing wait for a first Sam Maguire since 1951.
However, O'Shea - who recently hinted that he could stay on for 2025 - said that he has grown from the experience.
He continued: “That probably changed the narrative for people and then outside of that I’m probably a very private person.
"As much as people might think, I’m quite introverted, and when I’m not as readily available to people as people would like, then that narrative can stick.
“I have kind of grown to carry it and it hasn’t deterred me in terms of what I want to do and playing football for my club or Mayo.
"It’s probably impacted relationships and who I am as a person, but I think I’m in a better place now the last few years, having dealt with it.”