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12th February 2025
04:48pm GMT
Mayo great Conor Mortimer always stood out for his county, with his blonde locks, flashy style, and on one occasion an 'RIP Michel Jackson' t-shirt.
His tattooed teammate and fellow Mayo icon, Ciarán McDonald, is another who drew eyes, as is current star Aidan O'Shea.
The 34-year-old Breaffy man - who has lost multiple All-Ireland finals with both club and county - has been open about the abuse and hate mail he has received over the years.
He has been criticised as well by pundits, including Joe Brolly, with the Derry man saying as much.
Brolly admitted last year: "I’ve been one of those. I have questioned his credentials. I have said, 'Look, I didn’t think Mayo could win anything while he was there."
Speaking with SportsJOE, Mortimer backed his fellow Mayo man and his ability to deal with this adversity, and called out the likes of Brolly for 'kicking him while he was down'.
Mortimer said: "McDonald got it, I got it, O'Shea gets it.
"I don't know what it is, there's always a minority of people who I suppose are just negative to someone who is outside the norm.
"And I just think that's just the nature of it.
"I know Aidan himself, he doesn't pay too much heed to it, I didn't pay too much heed to it, I know McDonald certainly didn't pay any heed to it.
"And then you have a couple of outsiders, the likes of Brolly and these guys.
"When the chips are down, and he may not perform to the highest of [his ability], he'll jump onboard then.
"Some people are very particular when they jump on board.
"It's always a case of jump on top of someone when they're down, you know 'kick them when they're down' sort of thing.
"Which is easy to do. It's throwing stones from the shadows effectively.
"But O'Shea is tough, he's mentally tough, and he had a very good year last year."
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