Familiar colours but a fresh challenge for Séamus O'Shea in Ballymun

​By Paul Keane

The way James McCarthy explained it earlier this year, Séamus O'Shea was with his kids at the Ballymun Kickhams nursery when some of the club's senior players 'nabbed him'.

Ballymun needed a new senior manager and O'Shea, a rookie in the coaching game having only retired from inter-county duty with Mayo in early 2021, seemed to have something about him. "A really bright fella, well tuned in," was McCarthy's impression.

O'Shea, of course, went to war with Dublin great McCarthy, as well as Kickhams icons Dean Rock and John Small, in a series of All-Ireland finals throughout the 2010s, so swapping the green and red of Mayo for the green and red of Ballymun was an unlikely move.

But O'Shea gave it a whirl last winter and here he is now, still unbeaten as manager of the team in the PTSB Dublin SFC and preparing for a quarter-final against Thomas Davis on Sunday week.

Truth be told, any of Ballymun's three group games could have gone either way with a draw against Cuala followed by a dramatic one-point win over Lucan Sarsfields and then a late surge of scoring to defeat St Judes last Sunday.

But it's as good a start as O'Shea could have hoped for and after watching his brother, Aidan, help Mayo capture a landmark All-Ireland success in July, perhaps the family will have another significant success on capital turf to celebrate at the back end of next month.

The Ballymun club's colour scheme certainly bodes well.

"Exactly yeah," smiled O'Shea. "And the away kit is white, so no harm with that either!"

Mayo memorably wore white at nearby Croke Park in July when they defeated Kerry to end 75 years of hurt.

"It was an unbelievable year for the county," said O'Shea. "I'm finished since 2020 but obviously would be very close to a lot of lads there, both on the management team and in the backroom and I would have played with a lot of the players as well.

"They're still walking on the moon over there. It's given the county a great buzz. My own brother is there and being so close to a lot of the individuals involved, that just made it extra special. It hit that little bit harder because of all those things."

Who knows, O'Shea could yet end up at Croke Park himself later this year, managing a team in the colours of his native county, if Ballymun regain the Dublin title and go deep into the AIB Leinster club championship.

That all seems a long way off right now though. It's still a little jarring just to see a renowned Mayo man like O'Shea, a seven-time Connacht SFC medallist, on the Ballymun sideline next to club stalwarts Val Andrews and John McCarthy.

So how did he actually get involved, was it an impromptu nabbing as James McCarthy described?

"That's a great question! I'll tell that story at some stage," grinned O'Shea. "Like everything, you get roped into these things. I'm living in Drumcondra for many years now. I'm settled with my family there. I'm in Dublin a long time.

"I haven't been involved in the game for a good few years but look, I'm here now and I have a good team behind me with Val Andrews, John McCarthy and Declan Jennings and others. It's a great group, a lovely club. I couldn't fault the lads.

"They're a brilliant group and when you have that base, everything else will kind of fall into place."

It's only two seasons since Austin O'Malley, just finishing up with the Mayo seniors when O'Shea's senior career was getting going, guided Cuala to Dublin SFC success. The Dalkey outfit went on to win Leinster and All-Ireland titles across 2024/2025.

And O'Shea has inherited a seriously talented team with Rock, McCarthy and Small possessing no less than 24 All-Ireland SFC medals between them. Dublin goalkeeper Evan Comerford is between the sticks for Kickhams - former Dublin goalkeeper Sean Currie is on the bench! - while another current Dublin player, Paddy Small, is in attack though presently nursing a knock.

There are the combined talents of ex-Longford full-forward Keelin McGann and former Donegal underage star Jamie Grant too while Cameron McCormack, operating between midfield and the half-forward line, and Fiach Andrews have arguably been their two best players so far in the championship.

And yet the north Dubliners would probably still be considered outsiders for title success given that holders Ballyboden St Endas, Cuala and 2023 All-Ireland winners Kilmacud Crokes have all made it to the competition's last eight too.

"I found during the league earlier this year that there were a fierce amount of tight games," said O'Shea. "There's a huge amount of parity between the top 10 or 12 teams in Dublin. It feels really open. There's no handy games around here."

Escaping to victory against Lucan in Round 2 - Andrews pounced with a winning point deep into stoppage time - was a lesson for Ballymun.

"It was, and I'm not sure exactly what we learned, I just don't think we worked hard enough, as basic as that sounds," said O'Shea, a powerful midfielder who played in five All-Ireland senior finals for Mayo, starting four of them.

"We just didn't reach the pitch of it at all. We just couldn't seem to get any momentum going or rhythm and missed a bunch of chances. The main thing against Judes was I think fellas worked an awful lot harder.

"I thought certainly in the second half, we were a bit more clinical up front as well and that helped. It can be a bit of a lottery sometimes out around the middle of the field so, as basic as it sounds, you just need to be willing to put your head in there and win breaks."

He'll ask for something similar from his players against Thomas Davis next time out.

"We drew with them during the league, I think it was 3-15 apiece or something like that," said O'Shea. "I remember coming away thinking that they were one of the best teams we'd face all year. They were excellent, caused us a tonne of problems.

"When their championship group was drawn, they were in with Na Fianna, Skerries and Raheny. Na Fianna were in the final last year so everyone thought Na Fianna would come out but I remember saying to a few people that I thought Thomas Davis were the best team in that group."

It remains to be seen if Paddy Small can make it back for Ballymun's quarter-final tie. The county man didn't feature at all in the Round 2 or 3 group games.

"I don't know, to be honest," said O'Shea. "He was togged against St Judes, he did a bit of a warm up. He got a really bad bang against Cuala and he's struggling with that, so I honestly don't know.

"Hopefully he makes it, it would be great to have him back, he'd be a huge addition to us so let's see how it progresses over the next week or so. It's probably been three or four weeks since he's done anything so let's see. Hopefully he recovers."