One former GAA star you won’t find going into punditry in Aidan O’Mahony.
While it’s commonplace nowadays for stars of any sport to take up a position in the commentary booth or the analysis chair once they finish their careers, the five-time All-Ireland winner says he won’t be one of them.
The former Kerry footballer joined Ger Gilroy in studio to talk through all things football, his playing career, and even a bit of dancing, but when the topic of a media career was brought up O’Mahony said he has his reasons for staying clear of that path.
“I was asked about this before and I’ll tell you 100% straight out now. I wouldn’t do punditry because [of] the players I play with and the players I played with before. It’s great to meet them out in a social aspect or maybe meet them at a game and maybe I’ll look them in the eye and say ‘well, how’re things’ and not knowing that I wrote something or I said something in an article or a radio station that I cut the legs off someone for the sake of maybe getting a few pound”.
“I wouldn’t do that, that’s not who I am. I don’t want to be that person, there’s a life outside that. I love meeting people and you can have a conversation with them, like I can walk in here today to yourselves at Off The Ball and I don’t have to worry about ‘what did I say about Ger there a few weeks back, or what did I say about the show’ ”.
Though some might view what is said on a television broadcast or in a newspaper column as simply filling content space, with the words rolling off a player’s back like a duck and water, O’Mahony said that’s far from the case.
“Whether you like it or not, I know myself playing, especially in the last couple of years, you hear everything back. This kind of belief that the players don’t hear things...you always hear, because someone wants to tell you”.
The 2017 Dancing With the Stars winner then went onto discuss how the impact of social media can be a dangerous tool for those within the GAA circles, for fear of disparaging comments made about them after games.
“That’s the dangers of social media now, like everyone’s on social media and I know myself when I was playing I made a conscious decision that I’d never talk to the media, which I didn’t. I was probably a nightmare, but it was my personal choice”.
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