AIDAN O\u2019SHEA WILL spend the winter honing his handling skills on the basketball court after EJ\u2019s Sligo All-Stars announced they\u2019ve signed the 26-year-old Mayo star.<\/p>\n
\n Source: Cathal Noonan\/INPHO<\/p>\n
An avid basketball fan, O\u2019Shea hasn\u2019t played on the hardcourt since he featured for\u00a0St Declan\u2019s basketball club in Dublin in 2009. He also played schools basketball in Castlebar.<\/p>\n
The\u00a06\u20194\u2033 talent took a full-part in the All-Stars\u2019 practice yesterday and is set to play in their\u00a0National League Division One trip to the Dublin Lions on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always played basketball as a young fella and I was mad into it,\u201d he told Ocean FM. \u201cI probably played up until I was 18 when I left school and I played a small bit in Dublin when I went to college.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t really played since obviously because football has kind of taken over.<\/p>\n
\u201cI met Shane [O’Meara, Sligo coach] last year just by chance and he was obviously telling me about Sligo All-Stars.\u00a0As the summer wore on this year, I knew there was going to be no International Rules and the club was over as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\nWelcome to @SligoAllStars @AIDOXI pic.twitter.com\/DLhtb1v8Br<\/p>\n
— \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddeaEJ Sligo All-Stars\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddea (@SligoAllStars) November 3, 2016<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Source: Ej’s Sligo All-Stars\/Twitter\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\nO\u2019Shea added: \u201cOver the weekend I got a bit bored.\u00a0It was the first weekend I had off all year and I had a thought. I said I\u2019d message him and see if I could just come along and train to be honest.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came with zero expectations. I enjoy playing basketball and I\u2019m grateful for Shane for letting me to go train.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Breaffy clubman follows Mayo legends Ronan McGarrity and Liam McHale in representing Sligo at basketball.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not nervous about going back \u2013 though Ronan is here too so I\u2019m sure there\u2019ll be a lot of slagging! I\u2019m really happy to be back but I don\u2019t have any great expectations of myself \u2013 I\u2019ll just see how it goes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI might rope a few more of the Mayo lads into it too, football skills transfer very well over to basketball so I might get a few more\u00a0to Sligo \u2013 you never know!\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Shea is known to watch highlights of Cleveland Cavaliers small forward LeBron James on his phone to get in the right mindset before football games.<\/p>\n
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