Erika O'Shea on balancing her Cork career with Aussie Rules and the pressure of winning an All-Star so young

THE pressure to remain at the top of a sport can be suffocating at times for young athletes.

Many of these players are attempting to balance county and club teams and college while maintaining a somewhat normal life.

This is especially true for Cork GAA superstar Erika O’Shea, who has recently returned from Australia to regain her spot in the Rebels team.

During the 2021 season, Erika enjoyed a meteoric rise with the Cork senior footballers, which ended with her gaining an All-Star at only 19 years of age. Her incredible display in the half-backs during this season lead to serious interest from Aussie Rules coaches in Australia, who were impressed with her endurance and natural athletic attributes.

With an offer of being a professional athlete on the line, the Macroom woman didn’t think twice about signing a two-year deal for AFL club, North Melbourne, making her the youngest-ever Irish athlete to play Aussie Rules football.

According to her new club, O’Shea thrived on and off the field in her new environment after making a huge change from playing GAA to AFL.

Things were on the up for the young Cork woman, until a sudden injury left her without vision in one eye and alone in a foreign country without her family.

Erika said: “They asked me who I wanted to call while I was in hospital, and that’s when it all hit me. 

It was one of the loneliest experiences I have gone through, but I feel like I also grew up during the situation as well."

Thankfully, after making a full recovery from her injury, Erika decided to return home to Ireland for the off-season to return playing with Cork. This was also a huge decision to make for the now 20-year-old who once again was asked to switch disciplines.

After winning an All-Star at such a young age, the pressure was on for Erika to remain one of Cork’s leading players, even after missing the 2022 campaign.

There was an overall air of expectation around her arrival back in the inter-county setup from supporters, who assumed she would be up to her usual standard in GAA.

But this jump from AFL back to GAA was not easy for Erika, who was now used to taking rugby-like tackles and giving them to other people.

“People are saying that I am rusty and I’m not as good as I use to be, after getting the All-Star so young. 

I feel a huge burden to maintain that and to be honest with you I didn’t deal with these comments well the first few weeks.”

After making the decision to return and to regain some sort of a normal lifestyle at college in UL, she was also dealing with these nasty comments from people with little or no understanding of how difficult it can be to switch disciplines.

O’Shea is an extremely gifted young footballer and her choice to return home to play GAA in the off-season of her professional sport should be admired, not criticized.

NO EASY TASK

A young player, attempting to live up to the standards and pressures that surround her from previous accolades, while also trying to keep up with her professional contract, is no easy task and one that should be nurtured. 

For any athlete to remain at the top it can be an uphill struggle, especially after missing a season or moving to a different sport.

People should be more concerned about how incredible a feat it is to be a fantastic athlete in two different sports, rather than trying to bring down their confidence, when all they are trying to do is their best.