Moran: League title could spur us on

New Mayo senior football captain Andy Moran believes victory in Sunday’s Allianz Football League final could be a springboard to All-Ireland glory and the All Star attacker admits he can’t wait to lead his troops into battle against Cork.

“This is my third league final and I want to win it. I want to win a national title. We all do,” said the 28 year-old native of Ballaghaderreen.

“Winning it would give us a great boost. Kerry have gone on to win All Irelands after winning them, Cork have done so too.”

Moran, who has won four Connacht SFC medals since making his debut in 2003, admitted he is “honoured” to be chosen to take over from Alan Dillon as team captain. Goalkeeper David Clarke is the new vice-captain.

“It’s a great honour for my club and for me. I’ve captained the side on a number of occasions over the past couple of seasons which means it’s not going to be something that’s new. Plus, we have leaders throughout the team already from Keith Higgins, who is captain of the hurlers, to Alan Dillon who was a tremendous captain last year. Then there is David Clarke, and even younger players like Donal Vaughan, Aidan O’Shea. They are a new band of leaders and will be around for the next 15 years.”

Mayo boss James Horan has confirmed that midfielder Aidan O’Shea will definitely miss next weekend’s decider due to the groin injury that also kept him out of the semi-final win over Kerry. However, Seamus O’Shea (hamstring) and Alan Freeman (ankle) are both “back in contention.”

Horan also admitted that he was ‘very happy’ with Mayo’s warm weather training camp in the Algarve last week. “It was well-planned and well-executed. There was a good intensity to everything we did and the players gave great commitment. The big thing was the sheer volume of work we were able to do. It was the equivalent of about a month’s training here in Ireland.”