Back in May, Bernard Flynn went against his initial instinct to keep mute and instead related a scene which he witnessed following a challenge game between the Meath and Mayo senior footballers.
As the Mayo players warmed down following the match, the two-time Meath All-Ireland winner watched Aidan O'Shea posing for pictures with young supporters who had run onto the pitch after the final whistle. Flynn was critical of O'Shea, suggesting that he had 'singled himself out to be different' in choosing to do so.
Speaking to Newstalk's Off The Ball on Tuesday evening, O'Shea addressed the criticism which he received from Flynn. The Breaffy man said he 'zoned out' and stayed away from social media for an extended period of time. That didn't stop his teammates enjoying a laugh at his expense.
It's impossible to try and switch off totally. To be honest with you, a lot of the boys were pulling the piss out of it and making a joke out of it or whatever. It is what it is.
I did my best to switch off from it and to be honest with you, would have stayed away from social media for a prolonged period of time. I got to the stage where I didn't even know what other games were on television from a sport point of view whereas usually I'd be well clued into things. I just zoned out.
To be honest with you, with my injury, it would take a huge amount of time to try and get back and that was just totally my focus and you can't control things like that.
The boys just thought it was a bit of a joke and had a good laugh.
O'Shea added that when he agrees to take photos with young fans, he's simply complying with the same requests he made at their age.
I think it’s an important part of what the GAA is about, it’s an important part of what we’re all about as a community, and I think sometimes that gets lost.
For me, I’m a Breaffy footballer first of all, and a Mayo footballer second of all. Whether it be a club game in the top end of Mayo, or an inter-county football game, or if I’m walking up the street, if some kid or somebody else wants a picture, then I’ll do what I asked when I was 10 or 11 years of age, and I’ll definitely be obliging where I can, and I’ll always try and do that.
Photo by Diarmuid Greene/Sportsfile
