The Friday Interview: Andy Moran
April 27, 2012
Mayo's Andy Moran
Now in his 10th season as a Mayo senior footballer and a much-deserved All Star recipient last year, Andy Moran will make a familiar journey to Croke Park on Sunday to play in his third Allianz Football League final.
For the affable Ballaghaderreen clubman, it's another opportunity to win national silverware, which has thus far eluded him. He finished on the losing side in the 2004 and 2006 All-Ireland finals when Mayo were pummelled by Kerry on both occasions, and also lost league deciders to Donegal and Cork in 2007 and 2010 respectively.
"I have the full repertoire of medals as far as Connacht is concerned, but I'm still awaiting my first at national level," he says with frustration ringing in his voice.
"This is my third league final and it would be nice to get the win, especially after losing the last two times to Donegal and Cork. It's great for the supporters, who will always come out to support us regardless of how we are doing, to have another day out in Croke Park to look forward to. I know there was a small crowd (just over 11,000) in Croke Park for the semi-finals, but there were as many Mayo fans there as from the other three competing counties put together, and they were a huge help to us.
"It's great also for the younger players on the panel like Evan Regan, who is only 18, and Micheal Forde, who is only 19, to be going to Croke Park. It's different to any other ground and Sunday will be a huge experience for them. At the start of the year, our goal was to reach the knockout stages of the league and it's terrific to have gotten two extra games out of it, especially as we don't play the winners of Leitrim and London in the Connacht championship until the end of June.
"It would have been very difficult to keep lads motivated for two or three months if we hadn't qualified. A few weeks ago, when Cork beat us in Castlebar, we looked to be facing a relegation battle, but we turned it around after that by beating Dublin and drawing with Kerry, and then beating Kerry in the semi-final."
Moran and his Mayo team-mates have just returned from a six-day warm-weather training camp in Portugal, which he believes will stand them in good stead not just for Sunday's final, but for the rest of the season.
"It was a great trip and very worthwhile," he enthuses.
"It was organised a long time ago as part of our preparations for the championship, but as things turned out, it was also a good way to prepare for the league final. The main purpose of the trip was to bring all the lads together and to catch up on all the collective training we've missed out on. Because so many of our players are based in Dublin, we rarely get to train together. The lads in Dublin usually have to train by themselves."
Mayo haven't looked back since their near-disastrous Connacht championship encounter with London in Ruislip last summer. They regrouped to win the Connacht title and then ended Cork's reign as All-Ireland champions before giving Kerry a run for their money in the All-Ireland semi-final. They're now just 70 minutes away from capturing their first Allianz Football League title in 11 years and their 12th in all.
"For us, it's all about trying to be more consistent," Andy explains.
"We haven't put Connacht championships back-to-back since I've been involved and you can't expect to challenge for All-Irelands when that's the case. Cork and Dublin are the models we want to follow. They were both coming for a long time before they eventually got across the line and won their All-Irelands.
"Even when we beat Dublin in the 2006 All-Ireland semi-final, they were an ultra-consistent team. They won five Leinsters in-a-row and are going for their seventh in eight years this year. Look at Cork; they're going for their fourth league title in-a-row if you take into account the Division 2 title they won in 2009. That's the sort of consistency we're looking for."
A first competitive victory over Kerry since the 1996 All-Ireland semi-final didn't give rise to the kind of celebrations one would expect from Mayo after the league semi-final.
"All that was on our minds after the game was making sure we didn't miss our flight to Portugal!" the highly-rated forward laughs.
"But seriously, as much as it was a great feeling to beat Kerry and particularly in the manner we did it, it was just another game as far as we were concerned. We weren't thinking about getting the Kerry monkey off our back or anything like that. I wouldn't say Kerry lost too much sleep over losing and I think you'll see them coming back stronger from it."
In an interview last weekend, Kerry's Paul Galvin said he was taken aback by Mayo's athleticism and physicality. So what does Moran put this down to?
"I don't think we have been doing anything different in training. I think it's more a case of us having lads like Ger McCafferkey, Donal Vaughan and Aidan O'Shea who are both physically strong and mobile. We've put the same emphasis on strength and conditioning this year as any other year - no more or no less.
"What I will say is that we are blessed to have a brilliant strength and conditioning coach in Ed Coughlan and an equally brilliant physical trainer in Cian O'Neill, who has been a very good addition to us this year. There is a nice balance between the two of them."
As Sunday's big game nears, the question on everyone's lips is: can Mayo repeat last summer's sensational All-Ireland quarter-final victory over Cork and atone for last month's gut-wrenching defeat in Castlebar, which saw James Horan's men surrender a five-point lead in the final quarter.
"It's going to be tough, but we believe we're in with a shout. We've had some great battles with Cork over the years and Sunday should be no different. Apart from the 2010 league final, when they gave us a nice beating, all the games have been close."
Andy continues: "We were obviously very disappointed to lose to them a month ago, especially after having such a big lead. But we weren't the first team to lose to Cork like that and won't be the last. They have a lot of quality players and are capable of wearing any team down."
Last September, Andy broke his left leg while training with the Irish International Rules squad in Parnell Park, but was back in the Mayo colours by the end of January when he helped them to their latest FBD Connacht League success. He has since played in all of their league games, with the exception of the abandoned clash against Dublin in Castlebar.
"My legs are 100 per cent, but I'm not sure if my lungs are yet! We have a really good medical team in Mayo and they made it possible for me to make my comeback (against Roscommon in Ballinlough) ahead of schedule. It meant that I haven't really missed any football this year."
Moran's medal collection includes four Connacht senior football championships (2004, '06, '09 and '11), three Sigerson Cups (won with IT Sligo and UUJ) and a Mayo senior football championship (2008). While he works as a Community Development Officer with Mayo/Roscommon Hospice, Andy - who holds an honours degree in Sports and Recreation - is also involved in the Total GAA Coach website that offers coaching tips, drills and expertise from some of the top coaches in the game. Andy's partners in this venture are James Quinn and Barry Solan, who is the strength and conditioning coach with the Laois football and Polish national soccer teams. Tweet
