Reaction: Horan sweats on Moran fitness

August 04, 2012
Mayo had just coasted into an All-Ireland semi-final, following a facile 12-point victory over Down, but James Horan's immediate concern is the fitness of captain Andy Moran ahead of the Westerner's All-Ireland semi-final.

Moran was forced to end his involvement in this evening's tie at Croke Park, through injury in the 55th minute.

The skipper making a forced exit, due to a knee injury.

"Andy is the heartbeat and soul of the team, and he was playing great stuff so yes of course it's a disappointment," he said.

"But Andy will be the first to say that it's going to be an opportunity for someone else. When we get the diagnosis we'll take it from there, but there'll be an opportunity for someone else to slip in there and we're lucky that we have a strong panel and some good young players coming through - so we have to look at it that way.

"Of course it's disappointing for Andy. After the work he put in after a broken leg in the Aussie Rules trials last year, he's done everything humanly possible to get back. He was in great shape so it's just very unfortunate from that point of view."

Reflecting on the overall team display, Horan was satisfied with his sides innings over the 70 minutes - however despite a comfortable victory the Mayo boss is still requiring more from his players.

"There were parts of the performance that were pleasing, and there were parts of it that weren't. We still didn't play like we can, but we showed flashes of it.

"We won the game and we've improved on the Connacht final, so we will be looking to do the same again for the next game. That's where it is."

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